Townsville touted as top spot for property investment

Townsville has been dubbed one of the state’s hot spots for real estate investment, sitting alongside “supercharged” suburbs and other thriving regional centres. Check the online interactive to see the areas primed for growth.

Queensland’s property investment hot spots have been revealed ahead of the spring selling season with experts putting supercharged suburbs primed for price growth and thriving regional centres, such as Townsville and Toowoomba, as their top picks.

Terry Ryder, the man behind the Hotspotting Price Predictor Index, said investors chasing capital gains should look to the Queensland capital.

“Brisbane over the next five to 10 years will be the place to own,” he said.

“There’s big infrastructure spending happening and that generates jobs and demand for real estate.

“And you have the Olympic Games factor that will exacerbate all of that.

“It’s not so easy to find those high rental returns, so generally anywhere with room for capital growth is a great place to own real estate.”

Hotspotting managing director Terry Ryder. Picture: Supplied

Mr Ryder said the Bray Park and Wellington Point house markets along with the Milton unit market were suburbs primed for price growth, with all three earning a place on the latest Hotspotting Supercharged Suburbs List.

The list highlighted locations where prices were tipped to rise on the back of continued strong sales.

“History shows us there is a correlation between sales volumes and price movements – the number of sales changes first and prices react – with a time lag,” Mr Ryder said.

“In the case of our Supercharged Suburbs List, it’s fair to say that all of these are experiencing strong market conditions with many posting rising sales volumes for more than a year.”

The Bray Park house market had a median house price of $670,000 and three consecutive quarters of increasing sales while the Wellington Point house market had a $960,000 median and 12 months’ worth of strong sales each quarter.

The Milton unit market had a median price of $480,000 and five quarters of increased sales volumes.

The property 48 Leone St, in the “supercharged” suburb of Bray Park, is for sale for offers over $775,000. Picture: realestate.com.au

Haesley Cush, director of Ray White New Farm, Bulimba, Spring Hill, Clayfield, Toowong and East Brisbane, said investors on the hunt in the river city should look to areas with the greatest opportunity for growth.

“The old expression in real estate is zig while they zag,” he said.

“Apartments right now are the flavour of the month but they weren’t for nearly a decade in inner-city Brisbane.

“Everyone who bought them in that decade is enjoying strong capital uplift.

“Investors should be applying that theory to other parts of the market.”

MORE NEWS: Property investor banking on sunshine state growth

Wow: Island home with jaw-dropping man cave hits the market

Brisbane’s property gold mines where equity has surged $400k

Mr Cush said investment buyers should consider areas where infrastructure was lacking but on the cards, such as Kangaroo Point, with its planned bridge to the city, and Woolloongabba, with a transport hub under construction and plans in place for the Gabba redevelopment and $1.2 billion Station Square project.

“Also look to East Brisbane, Albion, Kelvin Grove and Herston – that city fringe that doesn’t have a bubbling cosmopolitan high street, but soon will.

“I think Moorooka is going to see significant change over the next year around the commercial and industrial areas, and Toowong has got massive infrastructure uplift coming.”

Brisbane property expert and real estate agency director, Haesley Cush.

Mr Cush said properties that required renovations could also be good opportunities for value growth.

“The market has pushed pause on those because of the uncertainty in construction costs,” he said.

Looking elsewhere in the state, Mr Ryder said investors could find solid rental yields in regional centres with strong economies and employment opportunities.

“In the regional areas, I’d have Toowoomba, Townsville, Rockhampton, Gladstone and Lockyer Valley,” he said.

“There’s five that are all affordable growth cities or regional centres with strength and diversity in their economies and high rental yields.

“Interest rates have risen so much, more and more people have dropped out of investing.

“But those places in Queensland where you can get rental yields above 6 per cent, that is good for investors because it’s more able to cover cost of owning a property including higher interest rates.”

This property at 2 Oculina Street, Burdell, is for sale for offers over $449,000. Picture: realestate.com.au

According to the latest REA Market Trends report, the gross rental yield in Rockhampton was 6.41 per cent for houses and 6.07 per cent for units while in Townsville it was 6 per cent for houses and 7.06 per cent for units.

In Gladstone houses were achieving a rental yield of 5.81 per cent compared to 7.58 per cent for units, in Lockyer Valley it was 5.2 per cent for houses and 5.97 per cent for units, while in Toowoomba houses were earning a rental yield of 4.56 per cent while units were bringing in 5.27 per cent.

Five regional Queensland house markets also made the Supercharged Suburbs List.

Mount Lofty in Toowoomba, Moura, sitting southwest of Rockhampton, Westcourt in Cairns, South Gladstone and nearby Telina were all predicted to see a rise in house prices.

Moura recorded six quarters of increasing sales activity while South Gladstone, Telina and Westcourt recorded four quarters and Mouth Lofty three.

According to REA data, the gross rental yield for the house market in Moura was 9.84 per cent, followed by South Gladstone (5.99 per cent), Telina (5.85 per cent), Westcourt (5.09 per cent) and Mount Lofty (3.81 per cent).