Queenstown in Tasmania cheapest of 601 hotspots

Queenstown in Tasmania cheapest of 601 hotspots
Larry SchlesingerDecember 8, 2020

Surrounded by misty green mountains and quaint Victorian-era shopping streets, the west coast Tasmanian town of Queenstown is the cheapest locality on a list of 601 hotspots named by Smart Investor magazine.

The hotspot list is based on those suburbs where dwelling prices appreciated the greatest over the 12 months to December 2011.

Houses in the Tassie town can be snapped up for less than a 20% deposit on a house in any of the mainland capital cities.

Queenstown has a median house price of just $89,500, making it the least expensive of all 601 localities featured on the Smart Investor “Top Suburbs” list.

The median house price in the former turn-of-the-20th-century mining town is nearly $40,000 cheaper than the next cheapest place on the list, remote Broken Hill, which has a median house of $127,500.

Investors can expect more than 4% capital appreciation in 2012 and a gross rental yield of 8.2%, the highest income return of the 12 cheapest locations on the list.

Currently up for sale in Queenstown is this 1935 two-bedroom miners’ cottage on Hunter Street (below), listed by Wendy van Balen from Roberts Real Estate West Coast with a $52,000 price tag.

It last sold for just $1,800 in 1992 and is currently rented at $140 per week.

At the asking price and current rent, this would equate to a yield of nearly 14%.

On Jankins Street, this three-bedroom wood panel house (below) built in 1957 is up for sale at just below the median Queenstown price at $89,000. Listed by Bradlee Martin from Roberts Real Estate West Coast, it last sold in 2003 for $40,500.

Grant Innes from Emu Bay Real Estate is selling this freshly painted three-bedroom house on two titles featuring a large wooden deck for barbecues (below). It is on the market for $85,000 and is currently tenanted at $150 per week, equating to a yield of 9.2%.

The house sold for $90,000 in 2008.

Broken Hill is the only NSW town on the list of cheapest investment hotspots, with the remaining 10 localities made up of country locations in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

The 12 cheapest investment hotspots

Suburb

State

Distance from capital city

Median price

Median weekly rent

12-month price growth forecast

Gross rental yield

Queenstown houses

Tasmania

260 kms

(Hobart)

$89,500

$150

4% plus

8.2%

Broken Hill houses

NSW

511 kms (Adelaide)

$127,500

$200

4%

7.5%

Mt Gambier units

SA

435 kms

(Adelaide)

$149,500

$178

-1%

5.2%

Whyalla Norrie units

SA

383 kms

(Adelaide)

$153,000

$185

1%

5.3%

Moe houses

Victoria

135 kms

(Melbourne)

$160,000

$190

1%

6.7%

Ravenswood

Tasmania

204 kms

(Hobart)

$163,500

$200

4%

6.4%

Morwell houses

Victoria

150kms

(Melbourne)

$165,000

$180

2%

6.8%

Red Cliffs houses

Victoria

527 kms

(Melbourne)

$173,500

$180

4%

7.9%

Bridgewater houses

Tasmania

178 kms

(Melbourne)

$177,000

$245

3%

7.3%

Renmark houses

SA

251 kms

(Adelaide)

$180,000

$185

3%

5.4%

George Town houses

Tasmania

250 kms

(Hobart)

$184,500

$200

2%

5.2%

Maryborough houses

Victoria

168 kms

(Melbourne)

$185,000

$230

4%

6.5%

Source: Smart Investor magazine

 

 

 

 

Larry Schlesinger

Larry Schlesinger was a property writer at Property Observer

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