QLD Brisbane - 550k - ex housing commission

Hi,

There's a property I'm interested in making an offer in Brisbane (for investment property). However, the property is ex housing commission.

I believe the area no longer is housing commission for quite some time now.

I'm seriously considering making an offer but I'm wondering how the fact that it's an ex housing commission house would affect the price (and to what extent).

The house itself has been repainted and floors seem to be polished. House was built in the early 1970s.

Thanks

 

For that price, is it in Stafford?

 

If it's a location that has everything else going for it, go for it... People will overlook its past as time goes by. Surry Hills (Sydney) used to be a slum. Redfern used to be high crime (even just 10 years ago). It all changes. The ex-housing commission homes in the Mt Druitt area are all fetching solid prices. Forget any stigma, it could actually be a better deal than any normal property.

 

I agree with Gockie, ex houso's in the right location could be a goer. For me it'd have to be a decent deal well under median. I've considered one or two of these more recently and the only thing holding me back was being interstate and the potential repairs and maintenance plus pain of doing a reno without being there. Also, being an older property, the lack of any depreciation unless you have the funds to reno straight up. This is just my opinion and that's all it is (Disclaimer - I am a nervous novice).
So many Sydney and Melbourne suburbs that were slums with housing commission are now completely regenerated destinations. If the area looks to be shifting, it might be on the up, have a crack..good luck!

 

It's in Brisbane's south - will let you know if it goes through.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks

 

Depends on cycle. For example Stafford and Kepperra are mainly HC and were excellent buys 4 - 5 years ago.

 

Depends on time horizon.
Brisbane is no Sydney. It takes a lot longer for reputations to rebuild themselves. Unlike Sydney ( your Sydney examples), there is a lot in Brisbane that cam be gotten for reasonable amounts in areas that don't have the stigma.
Most people here would want that rather than try and score a bargain in stigma areas and then hope that the stigma goes away. It eventually does eg Bulimba in Brisbane.. But takes a very long time compared to Sydney.

 

If it's in the south, why would you when you can buy a Queenslander in Ipswich? I would pass, especially for that kind of price.

 

Genuine question... why would you choose Ipswich as opposed to BCC? It's quite inland

 

A few reasons...first of all, Ipswich allows you to buy a heritage weatherboard home for a lot less than you have to pay in Brisbane. You also get your own heritage CBD right on your doorstep (where you can walk or bike straight in), and it's still not that far from the big city, giving you the best of both worlds. I just don't see the value in a lot of these south side ex-houso homes when Ipswich isn't much further. BCC ain't exactly near beaches either

 

We can agree to disagree.
1. I love heritage homes and I own one in middle ring Sydney, but convenience has to come first for me. I love the heritage homes around Richmond and Windsor on the outskirts of Sydney and love their city centres but I would not live there simply because it would take forever to get to work. Thus, their capital growth is held back. I'm happy to visit the areas, but mot live there. Whereas my area (middle ring) is extremely expensive to buy in right now. Anything freestanding is very expensive. But Brisbane... 550k still buys a lot. Best to do it now.

2. I love Queenslanders, I love heritage, but you can find this style of home all over Brisbane so atm they don't quite have the scarcity factor. Secondly, they are easy to pick up and shift elsewhere. My street in Birkdale had a Queenslander on it. My neighbour in my street in Birkdale told me that the owner moved it there from elsewhere. For me, location is of prime importance. Secure the location. The house that is on the block is of secondary importance. It can always be changed. As an investor, I just question the thought that properties in Ipswich will do better than Brisbane as an investment. Sure, they are nice, but as an investment, location matters. Who will you have renting the home?

 

I guess it depends on your priorities, if you have a job that is CBD only then proximity to the city matters a lot more than someone like myself.

I don't disagree when it comes to somewhere like Annerley which is super close to the CBD, but for somewhere like Inala, Darra, Oxley etc it's really not much further to get to Ipswich, and have the added convenience of your own historic CBD right in your backyard. So why bother with the middle ring ex houso for so much money? I'm not making a blanket rule that Ippy beats Brissy, but I reckon it does in this individual case...

 

The question I have for the OP is, approx how far from Brisbane's CBD is he talking?

 

The median house sale price in inner ipswich has is up by about 50k in the last year alone. Consistent growth too, not just a monthly spike. That's better median growth in the last year than plenty of middle-ring brisbane suburbs. I'm happy enough, considering the hype in the area is only just really catching on. Wait for the CBD redevelopment happening now.

The inner ipswich suburbs present a great opportuniity for lifestyle and amenity with a similar feel to inner brisabne suburbs but at half the price. As im seeing, with the inner suburbs, families are happy to add on 10-15 minutes commute and be able to afford a queenslander with a big back yard for their kids to run around in, in a nice up and coming family friendly/professional area. The stigma and street scape is changing so much with so many properties being brought back to life. Despite being 50kms from the brisbane cbd, demand is only picking up in these inner ipswich suburbs recently. Its becoming an increasingly o/o area which is reflecting in prices for the right properties. Plenty of demand for rentals too shown by the low vacancy rate, especially for quality rentals at that, my house rented out at 420$ p/w (120$ above median) during settlement and have never had a vacancy. So not only is there demand, the demand is from a demographic that is very different to the steryeotype of Ipswich in the past.

 

i am not sure if brisbane is similar to melbourne or sydney in terms of ex-housing comm area going up but if it is location as @Gockie said it is more prime than californian or heritage bungalows. I have bought one housing commission house from the dept of housing in melbourne. prime location and has gone up nearly 30+% in one year. before buying this, i really did a lot of research on ex-housing com areas in mlebourne.

It really depends if the gov is taking down old housing comm and reducing the supply rather than increasing the supply. places in melbourne like hamptom, port melbourne can reach 1.6mil for and ex-housing comm house.Lots of other suburbs - for examples ashwood - you drive there and you think this is like some of the housing comms in the north. no different in preston, jacana or reservoir. But they still sell for nearly a million each.

If it is logan - man i would be cautious (in melbourne, places like broadmeadows and heidelberg West due to the huge supply of housing comm take a very long time to gentrify and only now that is it is being sold up and it is moving. There is nothing wrong with a housing comm or social housing in any streets as long as it is not the whole suburb or increasing significant supply (even doncaster has a social housing tower right outside shopping mall) and they are also planning to have ones in yarra edge (alphington) and also Queen Victoria market redevelopment. The gov is at least distributing it equally across upper end suburbs and spreading them apart. So if you have 3000 houses triple the amounts of existing social or ex comm houses - i would be damn cautious if buying there.

 

I think the OP needs to study up on Brisbane issues rather than take too much notice of pure speculation from people who have never lived in Brisbane, and are therefore talking about issues in their own cities.

@Sheldrick I think you need to tell us which suburb this house is in. Is it a typical post war house in that suburb? Is it a suburb going through gentrification? Is the suburb convenient to the CBD with good public transport, such as Carina? Is the house at the bottom of a gully and likely to have flood issues? If you are afraid to disclose the location because someone else will buy it, then that answers your question about whether it is a good or a bad idea.

There are very few HC areas left in Brisbane now and I haven't heard anyone dissing them at all in the last 40 years.

 

Hmmmm..... Inala, Deception Bay & Woodridge come to mind.... not for good reasons either. I'd consider all these to be within the greater Brisbane metropolis area.

 

How many houses in those suburbs would be worth $550k?
Where are these high rise towers full of HC apartments (houses) referred to by the experts in Melbourne? Completely irrelevant to this person's situation.

Have you ever seen the transformation in Inala from old HC houses to desirable community homes?

No wonder he or she is concerned, and now probably confused now as well.