VIC Geelong

Hi, I am looking for an IP in geelong (house+land ). can anyone advise where are the good location/ street to start looking at please.

 

Hi Graindesable31,

Welcome to the forum

It'll help if you can give us a bit more information such as budget, yield and investment strategy? And what brought you to look at Geelong?

Cheers,
David

 

Hey there mate. I’m sure you would find this thread interesting:

VIC - Geelong 2018

Also, I would normally advise against H&L and advise to focus on older homes that you can add value to.

 

H&L can be a good investment in the Geelong region.

Armstrong Creek would be a solid place to look

 

Why Geelong? Why House & Land?

What's the goal/strategy here? Lot more questions honestly before worrying about the area and property type ...

Cheers,

 

Well...if you got in early enough....you would have made 150-300k on H&L in Geelong.

A lot of older houses in Geelong require a lot of work....and the other thing is there is only stamp duty on land...so to do a comparison...lets say someone bought in late 2016

Armstrong Creek - Villawood Estate
Land - $170k (400 sqm land)
House Turkey 22.5sq 4x2x2 - 215k
Stamps/Legals - 10k
Total Investment - $395k
House Value now - 530k
Profit - $135k

Existing House - Newcomb
House - Low maintenance Brick Veneer - 3x1x1 - $340k
Stamps - 20k
Total - 360k
House Value now - $470k
Profit - 110k

So the profit is not that dramatically ....but lot more maintenance issues with older houses in Geelong.

Note both of these areas are still going up...

 

Armstrong Creek has had a good run, but I wouldn't expect to see the same level of capital growth moving forward. There's a lot of available land around that area, and even though they've done a decent job of creating parks and a couple of large supermarket complexes it still lacks a lot of the basics that owner-occs look for (e.g. trendy cafes, well established schools). It's also not as quick into Geelong as the sales people will tell you, especially around peak hour!

There's been some decent deals popping up around Belmont, Highton and East Geelong over the last couple of months. Depending on your budget you might even look to Torquay where it looks like the Spring Creek development may get scrapped (or at least paused) due to election promises. This expected development disappearing may drive up prices in Dunes/Stratton/Quay2 estates.

Like others have said though - it really depends on your reasons for looking at Geelong, and also H+L.

 

I'm not sure there's as much land as you think.
I cannot see future development past Lower Mt Duneed Rd. If you consider that the Andrews Government is going to enshrine Torquay's town boundary into legislation and that the Surf Coast Council borders COGG at Lower Mt Duneed Rd and if you consider the plans to do the same thing to towns on the Ballarine and then you add the hilly and steep terrain West of the Geelong Ring Road land is not as plentiful as the outer suburbs of Melbourne.
Also add the fact the there are still 18 month waits for blocks to title in AC and consider the fact that the estate is central to the desirable beaches and the employment hubs in Geelong and add that area is in a marginal Federal and State electorate (three high schools are already being built or are in the planning stage for example).

I still think you're on a winner as far as H&L goes. That being said, the crazy growth probably will not continue (if I were to buy my block again it would cost me nearly double what it did in 2012) but strong steady growth in line with the rest of Geelong is on the cards.

 

I agree with this assessment.

The real issue is councils putting in more restrictions. For example in the Bellarine Portarlington/St Leonards...the developers had a good run of getting about 1200 blocks released over the last 3-4 years...which will complete by 2020-2021. The real issue will be getting more development past these dates. The cost of developing is going through the roof as the councils get more restrictive.

AC is a bit easier ...but to bring land to market is still an issue.

 

The government is putting big investment in Lara- $500M, that might help the area

 

Did you end up buying in Geelong?

I have a house in Corio but currently living in QLD. Was there for the Corio boom which was nice.

Thinking if I should buy another one in Geelong or QLD

 

SEQ in general will give you better yield in comparison with Geelong simply due the fact Geelong has already had a decent run last 24 months

I have my eggs in both Geelong & SEQ market. My Geelong IP (Newcomb) has done so much better from CG perspective, but I think it comes down to comparing specific suburbs you're looking at in QLD versus Geelong. Which suburbs are you looking at now and what kind of budget?

Cheers,
David

 

I'm currentley living Margate (Queensland, up north a little from the city).

Looking at: Scarborough, Margate, Redcliffe and Clontarf. I've only been in QLD for 10 months~ so not 100% familiar with it

Geelong - Not too sure, Corio/Norlane has boomed and I expect Lovely Banks to have a little boom too. There's just so much going on in Geelong, airport, ring road, 1 hour to city, all the surf coasts are 40mins~ away. I just think it'll grow at a nice steady rate tbh

 

Scouting the right areas bud in QLD i'll say..

 

Deception Bay has also come up. Not the best area, however cheap to buy a reasonable house and with North Lakes expand towards Deception Bay, will only provide value

I'll also end up living in the house for a few years

There's also some upcoming in Geelong IMO:
Portarlington (been underrated for some time but suspect it's already picking up)
Belmont - has the potential to run
Lovely Banks- has the potential to run
Bell Park- has the potential to run
North Geelong- has the potential to run

 

I bought one in the re-zoned area of that burb fairly close to the water..

Long term I think it will do well!...

 

Just got off the phone with my PM at Geelong and what I'm hearing is:
- Sale price has started to go stagnant or pulled back slightly
- Rental market is going gangbusters on the ground, not enough supply but heaps of demand. She said one of the place had 18 people through for rentals and usually multiple rental offers on first open

Just bumped up my Newcomb rent for $10 per week. At this rate yield will be slowly catching up and at some point numbers will make sense to invest there again. Definitely agree that growth will be nice and steady in the long run.

Cheers,
David

 

What's your thoughts about Geelong? Living in Geelong, I noticed the stigma on how people view Geelong

Oh wow, that's handy info! My property down in Geelong has a renewal in November. Gives me a bit of confidence and can up the rent. Was looking at properties yesterday, hardly any houses under $200k now!

 

Sometimes it worth renting for first 6months/year before buying a place to get better feel of the area...

That's what I'll do if I was in doubt tbh!. Comes down to really the kind of life style you prefer I guess..

 

My year rental up in QLD is coming to an end shortly (May). Living in Margate very close to the beach

Love the lifestyle up in QLD, however careers (in my field) and family are in Victoria.

We're trying to put all this into consideration however we're really focused on property at the moment and what would be best short/long term