TAS Hobart real estate is 'hottest in Australia'

Is it? I've lived through Tassie in a serious downturn before and it's not a pleasant experience. I remember what Tassie is like with 25 per cent youth employment. Getting any kind of work involved serious time and effort.

Every time I go to Hobart CBD I find another office or shop that's vacant that wasn't before. I've never seen so many commercial "for lease" signs but I'm supposed to believe that things are booming.

I've got enough experience in hospitality in Tasmania to know that a down turn in the sector has a massive impact on the economy.

You'll all note that the Hobart City Council are proposing a new transport policy that will bring in 20km speed limits for cars and increased parking fees to discourage use of cars. I suggest any current or potential investors should be providing feedback to council about this.
City of Hobart Transport Strategy 2018-30

 

Hobart may finally be having some growth but it's the sustainability that is at question. Small regional towns, when the boom finishes it goes off like a light bulb - taking with it a chunk of the "growth".

People like See change are timing masters - akin to day traders. Large capital and good yields means very low to no holding costs. Which will translate to 5% or less in round-trip costs. So even at 20% growth, they can make money bu it's a numbers game and not for everyone.

 

My peers are finding the rentals they are vacating are re-advertised at a lower price. Those that left their rental after asking for a reduction, had their ex-landlord wait six months with vacant house before a lower price was forced on them. It's anecdotal evidence certainly. But it disproves the idea of a booming market.

 

This is so not our experience when we rented out our property last munch after tenants broke lease. We resigned in 3 days from memory and now can raise the rent 7.5%.

 

I imagine there is some variation. Suburbs close to schools, shops and other facilities are less likely to have that issue.

 

I was last in Tasmania early in 2016 and prices in general had already increased a lot on the previous time. (I wasn't keeping official stats). Properties I was looking at (across the state) that used to be $2something Ks in 2012 were now $3something Ks. Today is more than two years later.

 

This is true. I have a property in the cheaper end of the market. The agent told me that the $350-500 is hard to fill at the moment in rentals. Cheaper stuff is in demand.

People here just can't afford the high rent.

 

Definitely not a day trader equivalent . Not worth the effort to buy and sell for 20 % . All of our sales in Sydney were around 80 - 90 % over a time frame of 7-8 years and the reality is holding costs do add up and impact cash flow .

Cliff

 

Vacancy rates are a bit scary at the moment with dramatic rises of 300 % in some ares going from 0.1- 0.2 % all the way up to around 0.5 - 0.6 % ....

Our experience a couple of months ago was multiple applications and us wondering if the rent should have been much higher

Cliff

 

That's us too

 

Didn't mean day-trader as bad thing. Day traders need to time the market very well. All I was saying is that when Hobart's light goes out, large capital, good yields with great timing means that you can still make money even if growth starts to turn around at 20% to 30%. Where as people who jump in this late will likely screw the timing, which is that much more important for regional towns like Hobat.

 

Thanks for your insight. I havLaunnie

My PM said that the rental market is not as tight as before.one of my properties became vacant and I only received two applications in about 1.5 weeks

I guess the number of tourists goes down in winter. This leads to some people stopped doing Airbnb

 

We had masses of tourists last year, all year. The last few years there has been a lack of tourism season. Ten years ago, you would expect a slow down in winter.

Hobart is noticeably quieter on last year.

 

Tourist numbers are up on last year. Yes plenty of Airbnb operators put their properties on the rental market over winter.

 

Sure, a cursory look at the statistics suggests this overall. However, an in depth analysis shows some interesting trends.

Visitors from most states are down from Mar 17 to Mar 18, with the exception of Queensland and NSW which is keeping things going. The NT visitor statistic is the largest drop, at 37 per cent drop from NT, from Mar 17 to Mar 18.

Intrastate visitors on business are down from Mar 17 to Mar 18. Spend per visitor has gone down with intrastate visitors which is a worrying economic sign. Fewer people are having intrastate holidays.

Overnight travel is up for intrastate visitors. So people who are travelling within Tasmania but are not always spending much time (or money) here. There has been a 16 per cent increase in this from Mar 17 to Mar 18 though.

Fewer people are visiting north of Tasmania but all other regions have seen a slight increase.

Business and employment visitors to Tasmania have dropped 2 per cent. Day visitors are down 9 per cent.

Anyway, I'm boring myself now. You can have an in depth look at the stats here:
https://www.tourismtasmania.com.au/...ian-Tourism-Snapshot-No-IVS-YE-March-2018.PDF

 

Come to think of it, you may have proven my point. If tourism numbers are up on last year, then any slow down has nothing to do with tourism. That may mean it is a slow down? More empty shops today.

 

Depending on where your property is. Mine was rented within 3 days (lease signed) and the tenant moved in 2 days later. It is for $415/week.

 

That's true. My unit got 7 applications within the 1st week and tenant moved in the 2nd week. $240/week, 2bed

 

That's great, what suburb Hieund85?