Queensland’s hidden areas primed for growth revealed
There are some significant infrastructure initiatives underway in Queensland which will spark the interest of savvy property investors. On the back of them, we asked one of the country’s leading experts which of the less likely areas are most primed for growth.
Right Property Group director, Victor Kumar, said not to look past the middle ring of the Brisbane central business district, particularly to the north.
“Where you can still get a decent house for $400,000, where say 10 years down the track you can knock it down and put a duplex,” said Mr Kumar.
“There aren’t many other states in Australia that you can say that you can confidently do that within a 15 minute travel distance to the CBD.”
Movement
Mr Kumar said there are three main infrastructure drivers influencing the region.
The first is the university in Petrie.
“This is the old paper mill site. The government has taken over a large tract of land, and they are building the largest university in Queensland there.
"And linked to that which is about 30 minutes away is the Caboolture Base Hospital, which they are turning into a teaching hospital.”
Mr Kumar says the third is a further 400 acres of land near to the Petrie university that the government has declared as a priority development area.
“It’s going to have the same impact as Badgerys Creek. They’ve got the town center in the middle and houses all around it, it was the first of its kind. That is what they are trying to do there.”
At the same time Mr Kumar warned that south-east Queensland, while sometimes touted as the next big thing, might have already reached its peak.
He said some of those singing its praise might be being lulled into a false reality because they are still seeing prices and yields in there through Sydney and Melbourne or Perth eyes.
“But the reality is, if you take Logan as an example, we used to get 7 per cent yields for houses there; now we are getting 4, maybe 5, per cent yields. So, that is showing that that market, from a price point of view, is starting to peak,” said Mr Kumar.
Value
Mr Kumar said that he’s also noticed that valuations in the area are not coming in to his expectations.
“The valuers are starting to become really conservative in the area, which is a precursor to the valuer saying the market is cooling off.”
He also said that there is a lot more rental property available in the area.
“This is a product of a lot of investors getting into the market,” Mr Kumar said.
“This adds to the investment pool and that drops the rent down, so you have a combination of these factors which is starting to flatten out that market.”
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