Hi everyone. Just to give some personal advice on the "where to buy' forum. I noted that a few people are considering Mackay, and I will post a more in depth informational post in a few days. Mackay is a buyers market at the moment.Everyone is waiting for Boom 2 to commence, and there are bargains a plenty, if you are willing to negotiate. Prices listed, are still at the prices that we have all been accustomed to over the past 5 or so years, and mostly at recommendations by the agents, but investors will find that a lot of people are willing to negotiate.Vacancy rates are extremely tight, and getting worse. Rents are still high-$380 to $450 being standard rents with people queing up for the listings. This scenario is going to get even worse over the next few months, when the boom kicks off.Miners are paying $500-$600 p/w plus for decent houses and units, and a lot of the single guys will rent a room for $150 per room, just to get out of their stinkhole mine sites. Moranbah and Dysart will always be high risk towns because noone ever knows what the next move from the mining companies are. There has been a huge dilemna there over the fly in fly out proposal from BMA, which is going to see a lot of investors stuck with empty property in a few short years. If you are only after the cashflow, go ahead, but dont count on a huge capital gain. Those days are gone. I noticed some properties sold for near the $500000, and people are jumping over each other to get them! How much more gain can you get from a box in the middle of nowhere? People investing there definitely need to do so as a strategy, to boost their cashflow portfolio, or if they want to live there. Most miners, do not want to live there. They travel to Mackay on their days off, and have their families here,in the city, living in comfort. Moranbah/ Dysart is only a 2-3 hour drive away, and the drive has just become part of their lifestyle. The days of the $1300 per week rents at the mines may still exist now, but noone knows how long for, because that is one of the issues constantly on the agenda out west. IMO investors are much better of investing in Mackay. It is secure,it has stayed steady during all the economic crisis, just as it has before Boom1.
The Nth qld floods and cyclones didn't worry us here too much. We have felt the domino effect of the GFC, the natural disasters, and everything else which has hit Australia over the past 8 months, but have realy only taken a miniscule hit, compared with 80% of the country.I am about to retire from my investments here, so i guess i do have local knowledge.