Hobart's fringes Kingston and Blackman's Bay offer affordability, good lifestyle: HTW
Buyers purchasing in suburbs further afield from city centres are attracted to these outlying suburbs by either the availability of affordable vacant land on which to build their own dwelling, larger lifestyle blocks, infrastructure that provides employment opportunities or geographical features that provide water or mountain views, according to valuation firm Herron Todd White's property clock for April 2016.
Hobart, the capital city, was at the start of recovery phase in HTW's property clock for both houses and units.
Suburbs on the southern outskirts of Hobart that offer such features include Kingston and Blackman’s Bay which are both in the fast growing Kingborough municipality. While residents of Kingston and Blackman’s Bay have longer commutes to the city, Kingston is a fast growing, well serviced suburb located on the southern outlet between Hobart and the Huon Valley. Kingston contains the main commercial shopping centre within this municipal area while Blackman’s Bay offers water frontage.
Just under $1 million in Kingston will buy you a character, four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with in-ground heated pool on 4,000 square metres of land. For those with smaller pockets a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on just under 1,000 square metres can be purchased from around $380,000.
Brighton, a north-western suburb of Hobart, is approximately 27 kilometres from the centre and is an affordable suburb with vacant land sale prices starting from $87,500. A four-bedroom, two-bathroom, established modern home on acreage can be purchased in Brighton from around $495,000.
Reported gross yields for investors in Tassie’s south for residential property range from 3.9% to 5.5% with vacancy rates of 2.8%.
In Tasmania’s north, Perth, a Launceston satellite village approximately 18 kilometres from the city has been popular with first home buyers due to the affordability of vacant land, especially those who took advantage of the first home builder’s boost grant which at its peak made $30,000 available to eligible buyers. Recent vacant land sales in Perth range from $70,000 to $105,000.
For fringe dwellers who desire larger parcels of land, the suburbs of Riverside, Legana and St Leonards deliver on this need.
St. Leonards is an established suburb to the south- east of Launceston’s centre and offers a variety of property types with a more recent residential development offering larger lifestyle blocks. An older style, 210 square metre residential property with a land parcel of just over two hectares recently sold in St Leonards for $420,000.
Recent sales of vacant land over one hectare were purchased from between $160,000 and $200,000.
Pockets of Riverside and Legana have water views as they are located alongside the Tamar River to Launceston’s north-west. Both of these suburbs contain good facilities including shopping centres, schools and child care facilities.
An older style, four-bedroom, three-bathroom home on just under two hectares with river views in Riverside recently sold for $625,000. A similarly aged, slightly smaller home in Legana on just under half a hectare with an impressive heated indoor pool recently sold for $565,000. A recent vacant land sale in Legana for a parcel of 2,000 square metres achieved $159,500.
Other northern fringe suburbs or satellite towns such as Rocherlea, Ravenswood and George Town have limited investor appeal. Homes in these suburbs can be purchased for less than $100,000. While some investors may achieve good gross returns in these suburbs they should consider that returns are offset by limited capital growth potential in these less sought after suburbs.