QLD Cairns

BA I use has suggested Cairns after buying on the Sunshine Coast earlier in the year. Very hesitant about Cairns. Clearly has suggested Cairns due to my target yield and my lower price point

 

It certainly has low prices and you can get really nice houses in great locations on the cheap.

Yields are good and there's decent demand for rentals. Not sure about the growth prospects.

There's some small projects happening in the area. Four tower cranes going up in the city in the next couple of months which is a small positive. There's a lack of decent work there.

 

Thanks Darwin some of my concerns. Two much reliance on tourism, holding costs (insurance) due to weather in the past and growth prospects

 

Surprised not to see any action in here for awhile.

Propertyology have been talking up Cairns for a few months now. Be interesting to see how it goes the next couple of years as they picked Hobart a few years ago! Cairns is apparently up 10-11% odd from 3 years ago yet down ~2% for the LY. Anyone got any knowledge of the market there i.e. the hipster areas, the desirable surburbs, the no-gos, the prestige suburbs?

@Kinnon @JenJen thought I'll tag you guys and see your thoughts and what you're seeing!

 

Best suburb i think is edge hill then paramatta park , north cairns , northern beaches - further north the better, close in beaches are not very nice and under the plain
Ok areas - i could be wrong as im not a local but i think parts of bungalos , westcourt, portsmith are not too bad
No gos.... not sure where to start. Probably just about every other suburb. Having said that its the norm up there so i wouldnt neccesarily avoid these areas if a good deal was available

Hipster areas- Hipster hasnt been invented north of noosa yet. Closest thing is the esplanade area which is not too bad and full of backpackers

Market starting going well due to some talk of an 8 billion dollar casino going in a couple of years ago. It has since cooled back off again so could be good buying

Tight geohraphical constraints just like hobart but not the years of pent up rental demand as they smash out the new estates down south of the city. Hobart didnt do this and hence the boom

Not a bad option just make sure you walk around the block and the ones around it before you buy and if possible check it out a couple of times at night
Had some sleepless nights in Earlville!

 

The Northern beaches around Trinty park/Trinity beach are definitely some of the more desirable/prestigious areas. I have seen some significant rental yields coming out of there, and my own place has seen some rental increase as well since purchase in 2016. Those areas tick a lot of boxes for many different suiters as well, from families and retirees (safer and quieter than cairns), to Uni students being close to the James Cook Uni up there.

Have read the Propertyology reports, and they sound pretty convincing. Would love for them to be right! However, one of the downsides to FNQ is the holding costs - insurance is forever going up, (well mine has anyways..) and underwriters are slowly pulling out of the area due to the risks attached, so if anyone knows of a good insurance broker than wants to some work to find me a better deal, then i'm all ears!
Management fees are also a bit more than other areas i've dealt in being 10%+

This would be an astronomical win for the area, but not holding out for the deal

 

Cairns update.
http://the2020group.createsend.com/...89BA8EBA9452540EF23F30FEDED/C67FD2F38AC4859C/

 

Try youi
I also increase my excess it makes a dramtic difference

 

Same, significantly cheaper.

 

Hey guys thanks for helping out! Did some digging and looks like the suburbs close to the CBD are not at a investor price point and most around the 405m2 so little opportunity for the smaller guys. Seeing so many weatherboard houses, perhaps an opportunity to do a knockdown and rebuild a luxury house around Parramatta Park or Cairns North? Numbers probably won't make sense for another year or so though.

So I moved on to next suburb and noticed you can still buy houses that starts with 2 in Manunda and Westcourt close to Raintrees Shopping Centre or DFO Cairns on decent blocks with 5km of the city.

I tried to do some research on SQM and realised that many of the suburbs that surrounds the city are all 4870 so looking at the stats was pretty much useless. Understand it's a small city but then Hobart does not have this issue.

Hard to make an informed decision without the numbers. How are you guys deciding on what to buy? This would be the only city I'm considering that I could finally afford to buy a house within the 5km zone, though most likely negatively geared, I'm aiming for CG for my next purchase.

 

Townsville is a bit bigger than cairns and cheaper , houses are built better with more street appeal(maintenance can be higher) why would you not consider it?

What stats are you interested in?
I look at census data and check things like renter% average income , employment rate
Then just track rental stock on real estate.com

 

Only just saw this now, sorry! The hipster area would be Edge Hill. Desirable suburbs can be very objective depending on what you consider to be desirable - same with the no-go. There are areas of Cairns I would not live in, but I would invest in. But then it would depend if I'm chasing CF or CG. Prestigious close to town would be Edge Hill, Whitfield, the hill side of Mooroobool (City View estate). Then you have the Northern Beaches too. I wouldn't consider anything south of Yorkeys ie Holloways Beach and Machans. Right under the flight path where you can just about touch the plane's bellies as they land. Also the suburbs are old and yet to start gentrifying. Then from Yorkeys north, depending on the suburb there are good pockets within depending on what you're looking for.

Rental vacancies are tight just about everywhere for houses and the prices are finally starting to move north for houses. I don't know about a knockdown and rebuild though as the build prices here are quite high, not sure if there'd be profit in it. You'd be better off finding an older block home and doing it up. I've seen a few good examples of flips done where there would have been some decent profit in it.

Insurance can be high but look at the flood maps and avoid the areas prone to flood. Rates aren't that high considering water and land rates are on the same bill with water usage being billed separately which is usually not much at all.

I think the Casino is a complete fizzer. Don't hold your breath on that one. I think there were some strategic business moves at play to get licences with no real intent to build the casino.

 

Machans beach waterfront is still cheap, and does not get noise from flight path, in fact the flight path goes over holloways beach and across the canefields. Machans is next to the airport and the closest beach to cairns, so people think it gets flight noise. Alot of potential for airbnb there as only 15mins to city and 10mins from airport.

 

I have a place in trinity beach. Not sure who you have been dealing with but 8.8% is standard up here.

 

http://the2020group.createsend.com/...2CF3CBA75262540EF23F30FEDED/C67FD2F38AC4859C/
Cairns update for February, rental vacancies tight.

 

Report has been much the same for the last few months!

 

Why Cairns is an emerging property market powerhouse

 

That article just reminded of a picture I took the other night that I meant to post here... (apologies for the crappy pic).

Was on the boat on the inlet and could count 5 cranes over the city. Promising things ahead.

 

A great sight!

 

20% increase in rents... not sure that is quite possible, but would love to be proven wrong!