Not looking so good in Rocky. No signs of recovery and if anything, it's getting worse. HTW had Rocky at "start of recovery" in last months' report, but back down to "bottom of market" this month. My property manager says there's been little change in vacancy rates from 12 months ago, still quite high. I'm not about to sell up but the opportunity cost is not getting any smaller and it's painful to endure.
From the HTW report:
Rockhampton
The Rockhampton and surrounding region is
experiencing a significant change in the local market.
This means good for some and not so good for
others. Buyers, it looks like your prayers have been
heard with local selling agents reporting a large drop
in values and sellers needing to come down and meet
the buyers at their level. The reasons for this are
quite clear and include:
? Large job cuts across the central Queensland
mining sector.
? A large number of newly constructed homes
on the northern and southern fringe of
Rockhampton have increased supply and
reduced demand in the rental market.
? Vacancy rates have increased and rental values
have reduced.
? Anxious landlords are flooding the market with
high volumes of property listings.
? General confidence and job security has declined
immensely.
However despite the doom and gloom beware the
hungry wolf, as many astute buyers are snapping up
their self proclaimed bargains in what some see as
the bottom of the property market cycle. Only time
will tell if this is in fact the case, yet with nine weeks
until Christmas, one cannot see any positive change
until at least autumn next year if at all.