Gladstone becoming an investor hotpsot: Herron Todd White
The central Queensland coastal town of Gladstone, 550 kilometres north of Brisbane, is emerging as a property investment hotspot, according to the May quarter Midwood report.
Median house prices in Gladstone have increased 8% over the year to March 2011 to $395,000, compared with flat house prices in nearby Bundaberg over this period and a 2% decline on the Fraser Coast.
Vacancy rates have tumbled in Gladstone falling from 4.1% in March 2010 to just 1.4% in 2011, and rents have gone up for all categories of housing.
According to the July Herron Todd White report, “soaring rents [in Gladstone] are still attracting investors into the market, with very good yields currently available”.
“The Gladstone residential market continues to perform strongly with values still climbing, and heightened activity due to the announcement of major LNG projects in October 2010 and January 2011,” the report says.
“Modern properties are still in high demand and are obtaining the best yields, especially when furnished. There are still opportunities to make a profit in the construction of new dwellings, with end values generally exceeding the total of construction and land costs.”
Changes in median weekly rents (March 2010 quarter to March 2011 quarter)
| One-bedroom flat | Two bed-room flat | Three-bedroom house | Four-bedroom house |
Gladstone | +6% ($190) | +22% ($280) | +26% ($360) | 29% ($450) |
Mackay | +9% ($250) | +7 ($300) | +4% ($390) | +4% ($480) |
Bundaberg | -9% ($155) | 0% ($200) | +2% ($265) | -2% ($310) |
Queensland | 2% ($255) | 0% ($310) | 2% ($330) | 1% ($390) |
Source: Midwood Report 2011
Gladstone is set to benefit from big energy, mining and infrastructure projects scheduled to commence in the region over the next 10 years.
These include a $41 billion coal mining project scheduled from 2011 to 2020, a $75 billion energy project scheduled from 2011 to 2017, a $7 billion rail project (2011 to 2014) and an $8 billion port project (2011 to 2020).
According to the Midwood report, property developer Devine will next year commence building a $1.4 billion master planned community just outside of the Gladstone CBD.
The 496-hectare site, to be developed over the next 12 years, will include 2,900 dwellings for up to 7,500 residents, an education campus, a mixed-use commercial zone and 182 hectares of open space
On June 24, the Gladstone Regional Council announced it had approved a 63-unit development on Glenlyon Street, which it says “will help ease the housing stress being experienced in the city”.
The “G60” development is being undertaken by developer Stokeston.
According to Council Development Portfolio spokesman Craig Butler, the approval will add to the residential options available within the region, “particularly when considering that, at the end of the March 2011 quarter, there were in excess of 4,500 residential lots approved for subdivision and in excess of 550 units approved”.
"With the number of dwellings approved this year already exceeding the total number approved in the whole of the 2009 calendar year, being in excess of 400 houses currently under construction, the amount of residential activity is certainly on the rise.”
The population Gladstone increased by 3% from 2009 to 2010 to 50,158.
In the 2006 census, the population was recorded at 28,808.