Where to buy to escape the crippling rent race in Qld

Queensland’s top 20 locations where tenants have the best chance of escaping the rent race and getting into their own homes have been revealed, and 10 of those suburbs are in one region alone.

The affordable Townsville region came up trumps for first home buyers, with 36 new house and land developments springing up across 10 suburbs, according to the new OpenLot.com.au Property Ladder Report.

They include Black River, Kirwan, Rasmussen, Idalia, Horseshoe Bay, Kelso, Condon, Railway Estate, Bluewater, Oonoonba and Wulguru.

Across those same suburbs, rental vacancies range from effectively zero to 1 per cent.

“Life is hard for Queensland renters right now, given that vacancy rates are very low and rents are rising quickly in many parts of Queensland,” Mr Chen said.

“So it’s natural that a lot of people want to leave the rental market and climb onto the property ladder instead.

“One impediment for first home buyers is that interest rates are rising, which is reducing many people’s borrowing capacity.

“However, property prices are falling in many parts of Queensland right now. That’s great if you’re a first homebuyer, because it lowers your barriers to entry.”

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And the top suburb picks also include locales on the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and the Darling Downs.

To establish the ranking, the research began by filtering out suburbs that were not large enough, were not likely to be in demand, were not affordable and did not have a tight rental market.

The remaining suburbs were then further whittled down if a buyer’s future mortgage repayments would likely be higher than their current rental commitments.

Finally, the researchers zeroed in to find out how many property developments were currently taking place in each suburb’s local area before they were ranked based on how many developments were taking place in their local area.

Topping the list with 62 new developments within the local area were the Gold Coast suburbs of Jacobs Well and Willow Vale.

Within the Toowoomba/Darling Downs region, there are 40 new housing projects, making suburbs such as Merigandan West, Withcott, Harristown, North Toowoomba, Rockville, Wilsonton Heights and Gatton good places for hopeful first home buyers.

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Pointing to the like of Jacobs Well and Willow Vale, the report says that the median weekly rent is $780 and $600 respectively, with typical first-home buyers budgets sitting around $858,000 and $660,000.

But there are new developments nearby at Hope Island, Pimpama, Coomera, Ormeau and Upper Coomera.

House and land packages on realestate.com.au show that a first homebuyer could snap up a new three-bedroom home from $668,600 or a four-bedroom house for the reduced fixed price of $673,095 at Ormeau Hills.

A new four bedroom house on a 338sq m block at Coomera starts from $800,400.

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Up north in Townsville, a four-bedroom house design on a 550sq m block at Kelso will set you back $525,000.

The report said a typical first homebuyer budget in that suburb was $440,000 while the median weekly rent was $400.

It was a similar story in North Toowoomba, where a new house and land package at Cranley starts from $480,900.

“There’s a lot of housing construction occurring at the moment, with new developments going live every month,” Mr Chen said.

“Another reason why now is a good time to be a first homebuyer is that there’s plenty of government assistance around.”

Meanwhile, just one Queensland region has been named a “cheapie with prospects” in the latest report from Hotspotting director Terry Ryder.

Ipswich was named in the national top 5, alongside Playford (SA), Armadale (WA), Salisbury (SA) and Gosnells (WA).

The suburbs were ranked based on rising sales activity, capital growth prospects, affordable housing, strong infrastructure, both existing and planned, and proximity to major jobs hubs.

Mr Ryder said the five locations were sometimes considered to be the “ugly ducklings” of city real estate, but they also had strong prospects for capital growth.

“Ugly duckling is an odd term for something you would recommend to real estate

investors, but the term is apt,” Mr Ryder said.

“Yet, it ultimately evolved into a graceful swan.”

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Mr Ryder said every major city had suburbs that were once considered “down-market” or “on the nose” – but which had evolved into trendy areas.

He pointed to the Redcliffe Peninsula as a prime example of an area that was “transforming their appeal and their property values”.

“The significance of these areas in the residential market has grown because affordability has become a headline issue in the housing industry,” he said.

“Recent research has shown the cheaper areas undergoing gentrification are among the strongest performers on price growth in our major cities.

“Not all of the cheaper areas have the potential to evolve into real estate swans, but some of them do.”

Article source: Queensland Property Investor

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.northlakespropertymanagement.com.au/satellite-city-shaper-advocates-responsible-development/