TAS Buying in Launceston ?

Have been looking at buying an investment property in Launceston. I am not sure if this is a good idea as there does not seem to be a capital growth in the area. I am looking at a long term investment and getting a foot in the market as it may be a place to retire to down the track. The property I am looking will not be a house we will be living in. I have been looking at Kings Meadows, Riverside, Trevallyn and Youngtown with a price range up to $215 at this stage but hope for less. Anyone have knowledge of the market or suggestions.

 

@See Change has bought a couple there and is usually quite savvy with where he buys.

 

We bought two houses split into three units at the end of last year .

By coincidence both the places we bought sold around seven years ago . We bought one for the same and the other for less than the vendors paid .

The market is starting to move in terms of volume , but not in terms of price . We just wanted to get in ahead of the crowd , so we had a greater choice .

This is my initial list of suburbs

Northern suburbs - cheaper with potential

• Invermay - Closest to City 7248
• Mowbray - race Course - golf course - 7248
• Newnham - Uni / Australian Maritime College - 7248

• Trevallyn -Inner city - West - on hill - 7250
• Riverside - On west Tamar - 7250
• Kings Meadow - Next to South L - Cheaper -7249
• Summerhill - 7250

Others more expensive

• South Launceston - 7249
• West Launceston - 7250
• Blackstone heights - 7250
• Norwood - 7250
• Prospect - 7250

Ex housoes

• Mayfield - 7248
• Rocherlea - worst Local primary school - 7248
• Ravenswood - The worst - 7250 ...
• Waverley - 7250

When we Started looking we initially targeted invermay though to newnham but soon became aware that the Uni is in part moving from newnham to Invermay . Rents quoted in newnham may not be sustainable .

We spent a lot of time targeting invermay . It's the working class suburb next to the CBD that everyone expects to gentrify .

We did have a look around Ravenswood ( Ravo as it's known locally but decided against it . The " nice " part still had burnt out houses ...

We like Launceston and there are some positives for the north coast it terms of agriculture , education and becoming a retirement area for mainlanders who need to cash up .

The places we bought were in Launceston and south Launceston .

We did drive through riverside and trevellyn and they seem quite nice . With Hobart starting to take off , I'd expect Launceston to move at some time in the next 2-5 years . We bought there for high returns ( around 7.5 - 8 ) with the aim to hold long term . I expect values to move by similar amounts percentage wise to other places .

I'd try and buy as close to the CBD as possible

It's certainly not too late to buy there .

Cliff

 

Thanks so much much for that information. Makes me feel happy that i have been looking in the right areas. Do you know much about youngtown would it be too far frpm town or should i try and stick with rivrrside trevallyn. I did at first want invermay but i am finding it hard to find something suitable in a good street with out renovation.

 

Launceston is somewhere that you need to go and see the properties

This property was for sale when we were looking late last year . Interesting tenants ... Needed some work , mould on the ceiling of the lean to . Compact would be a polite way to describe it . Kitchens were basic Would be good for a local who was hands on .

Also be aware that the PM's charge around 9 % and sometimes 10 ...

If you can go up to around 240 there is a significant jump in terms of value for money

Cliff

 

Erica,

I live in Hobart but work in Launceston for 1-2 days most weeks. If you need any help or info, feel free to PM me. More than happy to provide you with any help I can.

@seechange, that is a very good comprehensive list of the surrounding suburbs of Launceston. Well done on compiling that, even better if your not from Tassie! Pretty much spot on.

 

There are some Tassie investors around , also one over on property investing . I searched on both forums and sent some pm's .

Cliff

 

Hi Erica,

Im from Launceston, havent lived there for a long while but visit often as my family still live there. Youngtown is nice but is far out for Launceston standards.
I'm happy to help out for location info etc if you need.

 

Was there just a few weeks ago. Nice place to visit, but was very quiet. Walking though town on several nights, and almost like a ghost town just about everywhere.
What is going to drive capital growth here? Just a 'ripple' out from the main Hobart increases??

 

Surprisingly not every one on this planet wants wild nightlife .

Some people like peace and tranquility ...

Pretty location , nice lifestyle , good education , high quality medical facilities .

There's even less night life in north arm cove .

Cliff

 

I l

Amen brother. I'm out of the big smoke as soon as possible. I've had enough wild nightlife for a few lifetimes anyway.

 

Not talking about wild nightlife at all. Just went for a walk trying to find somewhere good to eat. Most places were shutting early, or had hardly any customers at all. Only a couple of restaurants were busy, so that's where we ate.

 

Is that a predominantly housing area as well like the rest of the country (ex Syd and Mel off course) ?

 

Cliff did you buy an acreage in north arm Cove? I looked at acreage /rural on re.com and most land cannot have residential.

 

There is a lot of " Non Urban Land " which you can't build on , but there are also around 200 blocks which are zoned residential and can or have been built on . We have a house on one of those .

Non urban's , you can camp on for 30 days each year .... Don't expect their zoning to change .

I wouldn't touch the non urban .

Cliff

 

Thanks for that I think it might be a little too far out aswell as I did not want to go further than Kings Meadows.

 

Thanks Cliff you have been very helpful and have some great advice. Still looking just taking our time to find a place we are going to be comfortable with for finances and low maintance if possible at a good price. ( Maybe looking for something that does not exsist LOL).

 

I think you will find it will have growth. It will be a numbers thing though. Low interest rates and high rent attracts investors and attracts the renters to try and buy their own home when they work out how much they are paying
Dont think central launceston will benefit from retirees - tamar will benefit one day though

Apart from that there is no other real growth drivers i can see at the moment

 

Central Launceston won't benefit directly from Retiree's ( though there are a couple of developments around the waterfront which would appeal to some ) , but it will benefit from the uni move and already has low vacancy rates . It will benefit from a general improvement in the local economy as it is the main central business area so any pick up with be reflected by a generalised increase in business activity / confidence .

Cliff

 

All of tassie has low vacancy rates (bar qtown, zeehan) . Its because the economy is so stuffed that noone has built a house in the last 15 years!
Makes for good buying funnily enough

Sort of stuff you buy and hold into retirement as the rental returns are good and the asset cost is low with bugger all risk