QLD Logan hot spots! Insider knowledge

Hello fellow property investors.

I just thought I would share some knowledge of particular Logan areas with those who are looking to invest.. Having lived in the area for the past 17+ years (in rentals), I have seen the improvement in the area and value of properties rise. I have lived in Rochedale South, Springwood, Shailer Park and have now purchased my first property in Tanah Merah. This will be my PPOR then rented out. I will post in the introduction section about my first purchase and what it was.

I have been studying this are intensely for over 5 years and had I been in the position to purchase I would have, I am still under 30 and wanted to ensure I had the minimum 20% deposit to work with before purchasing. I work in the construction industry and have travelled extensively all around Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. I believe the best value for money lies in Logan, particularly in the suburbs of Springwood, Daisy Hill, Loganholme, Cornubia, Tanah Merah and certain parts of Slacks Creek. Below are the reasons why I have chosen to invest in the area and believe why it is still a hidden gem amongst investors.

Please note that I am solely focusing on the particular suburbs mentioned, Springwood, Daisy Hill, Loganholme, Cornubia and Tanah Merah. Reason being is that with my first home investment I always wanted it to be in an area that I can picture myself retiring within in the future. Suburbs such as Logan Central, Kingston, Loganlea ect do not appeal to what I am looking for but there is definitely some great investments in those areas.

Location:

Smack bang in the middle of Gold Coast and Brisbane. Majority of the suburbs are withing 30kms of Brisbane CBD and about 50km to the GC. Usual travel time to the highway is less than 10 minutes, weather you need to go north or south bound. The Logan motorway is about the same distance if you need to travel to Ipswich and beyond. The gateway motorway is approximately 15 minutes away if you need to go north or the airport.

Leisure and Education:

There are some great schools in the area both public and private. The most notable probably John Paul College which is situated in Daisy Hill. There is also Kimberly College, Chisholm College and plenty of great day cares.

The Logan Hyperdome is not a bad shopping centre. Has everything you need and free parking. They have also renovated a section of it and is now more aesthetically appeasing with more higher end products available. They also have a community garden, and host street food markets. From the digging around that I have seen, they have also submitted an application to increase the floor space by 45,000sqm2 by adding an additional two levels. Obviously this would still be some time away.

The access to parks and rivers is exceptional. The Kimberley national park has great walking and mountain bike tracks, and is rated as one of the best downhill mountain bike tracks in the country! Alexander Clark park is a beautiful park on the Logan River, they host weddings, have bbqs and multiple pontoons for fishing. There are multiple boat ramps also scattered along the area, Cornubia, Loganholme and Edens Landing. For those who like the boring "sport" of golf, there are multiple golf courses, I believe Greg Normans course is based in Carbrook.

Future development:

There are two major developments that are on the way in the area. One being the Springwood Master Plan, which will make Springwood a second CBD and an economic hub of the area, also the same plan for Beenleigh which is about 15 minute drive south. Development has already started in Springwood, blocks have been rezoned and plans have been lodged. Springwood has seen a dramatic increase in prices in the past two years with some properties that were worth in the 300's now selling for $1+million due to re zoning. There is also the Loganholme Tourism plan, which wants to maximise the areas access to the Logan River, including a Marina, Cafes, Water tourism, there was approval for a Zoo but I believe this hit a dead end. There is also plans for 200 plus hotel rooms on the logan river as a tourism destination.

Check out the logan city councils website for the Springwood Master Plan and Loganholme Tourism Plan for more info. They are about 65 pages but well worth a read. I believe a lot of the big business that are leasing office spaces in Brisbane CBD will be enticed by better lease agreements to relocate to Springwood.

There are also a number of new estates in the area (which I would avoid, will discuss below why) which sold out very quickly at premium prices for land, and also house and land packages. As the areas still boast many properties on large blocks 2000m2 plus, many of these are in the process of being developed for apartments. Some notible streets include Timor avenue in Loganholme, Jalan drive in Tanah Merah, Plumbs rd Tanah Merah and Barbarella Drive Springwood, Bryants Road Loganholme. All the plans and DA's are available through some digging on the Logan City website.

Houses:

In the last two years a lot of the properties in this area have been on the rise usually in double digits. Depending on the street, but 10% P.A increase is not uncommon. A house on my current street in Shailer Park sold in 2015 for $550k and now is valued at over $650 with no improvements made. However its all about the Land value here. I personally do not see the value in the new housing estates where houses sit on 400m2 and you watch your neighbour take **** out of your kitchen window, and this area has plenty of properties on 800m2+ blocks. BUT they are snapped up in days. The average sale in the area is 7 days from listing. While I was looking to purchase I inspected at least 30 homes, and attended many auctions, some houses that were listed in the morning by the time I called in the afternoon were under multiple offers without any inspections. All due to land size and location and price. The new estates in the areas are usually from around $500k+, but I would stay clear, as the quality of the homes is not built to last like the old homes built from hardwood and steel frames. Some of the estates are also built in flood prone areas, like the new estate in Loganholme, they had to raise the ground level in order to build, those houses will start to sink in a matter of years, I would stay clear. If you do want to build a new home, there are some great blocks that need to be cleared of trees around the $300k mark all on well over 2000m2.

There are budgets for everybody, there are plenty of nice little houses in the 300's in Loganholme and Tanah Merah, these are usually on blocks no bigger then 500m2. Usually 3 or 4 bedroom and 1 bathroom. The higher end of the market $700k+ also experiences quick turn arounds, with people realising that their money in other suburbs even 10 minutes down the road like Rochedale, or Mt Gravatt will get them maybe an old 2 bedroom QLDr on 600m2 if your lucky, or a 5 or 6 bedroom house in a prestige street in Shailer Park or Cornubia on well over 1000m2 with all the luxury inclusions. The median house price now in Rochedale which is about 10kms away is now $950k. This has been largely due to the new estate the Rochedale Estates and Aspire estates which opened, and have drawn large asian population from neighbouring 8 Mile Plains and Sunnybank, the latest stats show that 80% of purchases in those estates are to the asian demographic. A new estate by Villaworld is just opening in Rochedale also which is starting house and land from $705k on 350m2. 8 years ago in that area you could purchase those farms for as little as 600-700k comprising of 4 or more acres. When the Rochedale estates opened and stage 1 was in its infancy the blocks were ranging from $300-$450k, $350k would buy you a 600m2 block. Now a 600m2 block is approximately $600k+. I was not in the position to purchase a block when stage one was released but I did recommend to a friend of mine to invest in a block. He made a healthy profit but would have made even more had he still kept it.



4 Out of 5.

My personal opinion is the area deserves a definite 4 out of 5. Obviously this can vary largely on the particular suburb and street as there are some pockets that are worse than the others. Public transport is probably the only thing that lets the area down, but there are bus hubs at the hyperdome and springwood, and there are plans for some major improvements in the public transport infrastructure. Having spent the last 10+ years on the road for work, I have seen more parts of Brisbane and surrounding areas than the average person, and would not want to invest or live in any other place simply due to the value for money and long term prospect of the area.

Things to look out for

The most common issue in the area are termites. Do thorough checks constantly even after you purchase a property. Check land constrains, a lot of Logan has higher levels of Acid Sulphate in the soil than other areas. From a development point of view, this can be a little bit more expensive to work with. Powerline corridors, many of the cheap houses on big blocks are in a 110v Powerline corridors. Bushfire hazards, due to the serenity if being surrounded by forests, there is also a risk of bush fire. This has obvious implications on your insurance costs. Flood zones - many low laying properties are in the flood zone area, always check for this as this dramatically reduces land value.



Sorry for the long post! Ill keep them short from now on. Hope this helps anyone thats looking in the area.

Cheers,

 

Attached are the plans in case anybody can't locate them.

 

Rumors are more valuable when they are denied..
Kaufland is coming to Australia

 

Great post @magyar

Thankyou for giving us non locals further insight on the area. What are your and the locals thoughts on the suburb of Marsden. Obviously its not as nice as those other Logan suburbs you mentioned. Do you see the suburb getting better and do you also see young Brisbane families and aspiring home owners having to move into these suburbs due to housing affordibility like we have seen in Sydney over the last couple of years with places that use to be not so desirable such as the outer western suburbs i.e., Mount Druitt

 

Logan council area is split vertically by the Pacific Highway or M1.

To put it simply:
East of the highway is generally quite different and much more up-market than west of the highway.
Marg

 

I've lived in Browns Stains since 2006 (PPOR). I picked it over all the other west options as back then it seemed to have more pockets of people with better character (judgey much). I think because it's one of the more established suburbs with older houses, higher % of OO, and at that point newer pockets in Marsden and Crestmead offered more value for renters, ie a newer house to fit more kids in the double garage/whatever haha. I think this still rings true today, but the areas all have improved. Picking the pocket is important in all of these suburbs. I perhaps got lucky but have had the same awesome neighbours the whole 11 years. (bar the rental next door that's had a few different people through but no dramas with any of them). Most are OO where I am with a few long long (older) renters.

I honestly believe that it's the immediate neighbours in ones pocket , far more blanket suburb view that makes living in a location pleasurable or a challenge.

So Marden has improved but in my opinion is still a step below Browns Stains or Regents Park, and even Boronia Heights an perhaps Hillcrest too. Certainly below the eastern suburbs and likely always will be.

 

Great post. I have a similar interst in many of the areas you have mentioned as well as an IP in Underwood. What I like about these areas is I see them as a somewhat overlooked 'goldilocks' zone for investment. A lot of the talk here centres around capital gains from pricey inner ring or high yield in dirt cheap stigma suburbs like Kingston and Woodridge. I see a lot of the areas you have mentioned as a nice compromise, nice entry price, ok yield, solid OO interest, stable tennants. Will they shoot the lights out on capital gains, probably not, will you get 7% rental yield, unlikely. But you won't be heaomorraging cash holding them and it is less likely your tennants will burn the place down with a dodgy hydroponics setup!

 

@YoungBull

There has been a lot of development in Marsden over the last 3 years and the surrounding areas such as Logan village, Chambers Flat, Waterford And Waterford West. Similar stories accross those suburbs, older houses on big blocks being sub divided for new housing. There are also some smaller develoments in Marsden that are exclusively for OO market and do not sell to investors, so there is an increase of more families purchasing and FHB. There has been very high development along chambers flat road just after Marsden state high school. Few new estate all with over 60+ blocks. House and land usually starts from around the $400k+ and get some gold rental returns. I am personally not for new estates and would never invest my money into them. If I was to purchase in Marsden it would be an older property on a large block which will rent just as well as a new home, as many people in that suburb have multiple cars, and boats and need the space.

There are areas of Marsden , first through to fourth avenue that are in flood areas so do your research thoroughly. You have good access to the Logan motorway but it is a toll road. To access the highway is a minimum 20 minute drive if not more in peak hour.

Lots of new townhouses also being built in the area, from what I have seen at ground level there occupancy rates are lower than an older home with a decent yard. There will be some big developments coming up on Waterford road which borders Marsden, most likely a combination of town houses and new estates. The area has definitely improved in the past 5 years as a lot of the lower social demographics moving into the new estates near by such as yarrabilba, stocklands and parts of reagents park, and this has meant OO are purchasing a lot of the older homes. I believe another 5 years and Marsden and especially Waterford will see some drastic changes. There are some brilliant properties in Waterford near Taigun Lake all on 2000m2+ blocks and all well under 500k Mark. One sold last year for 350k and 2000m2 4bedroom house with views over the lake.

As someone else mentioned it will all come down to your tenants which is really a luck of the draw unless you vet them. I have heard horror stories, and also heard of great long term tenants of 5+ years. All depends on how you market the property and location.

If I was to invest in Marsden personally I would be looking at the older acerage blocks, even if some of the property is in a flood area. As long as the majority of it is not. I would be looking at either close to Waterford area or the opposite side closer to Wembley road which takes you straight to Brown's plains and woodrige. There are some big commercial developments going on there which will open up employment opportunities in manufacturing and warehouse work, which is one of the largest employment sectors for those areas of Logan.

Hope this helps!

 

@Blueskies

Spot on. Depending on when you bought your ip in Underwood you would be doing very well. Underwood and Kuraby have gone through some massive growths in 5 or so years. Kuraby was once an undesirable suburb, now sales are usually 700k plus. There are two mosques in the area one in kuraby and one on Logan road. The one in kuraby has thousands of people there daily. This has led to kuraby being nearly exclusively a Muslim suburb and prices have sky rocketed as they want to be close to the mosque. Houses waking distance to the mosque obtain premium prices. All the agents in Underwood and Kuraby are usually Muslim just like in sunnybank they are Asian. Helps appeal to the demographic they are targeting. The Underwood shopping centre is catered towards them with Halal butchers and every food outlet being Halal certified.

There are still some cheaper properties in Underwood but even vacant blocks get snapped up quickly when they come up. A small block on Logan road recently sold for over $400k and that is a very busy road. Good luck getting out of your driveway in peak hour.

 

This is a really good post.

I think there is upper logan (rochedale south, springwood, maybe daisy hill), but it really is upper middle logan where things are at. Meadowbrook, Loganlea, that nice part of Waterford west, and some sections of Marsden.

Reason is the upside is so big.

But the really outlying suburbs like yarrabilba, beenleigh i think are 'nowhere' just patches of houses on the way to somewhere else.

What to think about slacks creek? Can't make my mind up. Also sections of Woodridge that are close to Kuraby ..... why are they so cheap?..... can't make my mind up about them. Even parts of Kingston look nice, especially around Mayes Cottage. But i can't decide about that area either.

I like that this post talks about Logan without jumping to (racist?) judgements about the area, and acknowledges some of the really nice parts.

Finally, will Springwood really become a second CBD? Or is this a real 'spruik' from a mayor trying to find his place in the world?

 

Agree completely about Yarrabilba ect. Beenlegh however is also set to be another cbd and development has already started in the town square.

There are parts of Kuraby that are in flood areas so that could be why, and also now Kuraby has two distinctive areas one being predominantly Muslim population close to the mosque while further away from the train station is more Asian orientated. There is still also a lot of housing commission homes in the area. There was also the famous Kuraby drug house near the train station for a long time.

In regards to Springwood becoming another CBD it has been in the works for some while and I have a friend that works at Downer and one for Vision Stream and both are already working on infrastructure upgrades to Springwood. Obviously all it takes is a change in government and it could go down the drain but developers have already bought key pieces of real estate in Springwood. Only time will tell I guess.

 

For Slacks Creek, the best pocket is actually between Park Rd and Paradise Rd and is reflected in the price. I bought mine in the pocket above Park Rd which I quite like the location as it's not too far from Springwood and close to the business on Randall St which offers job opportunity. I went there and walked around the neighbourhood myself before jumping in, as I was concerned about the industrial pollution coming from businesses from Randall St but seems to be OK.

You're spot on about Woodridge - the closer to Compton Rd (and therefore Underwood) the better for Woodridge. How can the big price difference remain when it's only separated by one road, right? Right now I think it's still a perception/stigma issue, but over time as Woodridge gentrify the part closer to Compton Rd will be the first to bridge the price gap in my opinion.

 

Interesting insights.

With regards to Slacks creek. The upper section is OK (as long as you're not behind my work (Randall st) chugging down the fumes from out factory haha) , the lower/mid sections pretty low spec, a number of houso streets littered about. There are some sketchy streets, really quite a few sections no better than Kingston/Woodridge. The isolated pocket of Slacks creek against the M1 is the better area, prices reflect this

The top end of Woodridge again is the better section, though the stigma still holds with this Suburb.

I don't really get the 'hype' of Loganlea, overall it's nothing special, there are some nice pockets but also a fair bit of 'meh' areas. Though the 'pocket' is very key with many Logan suburbs.

Interestingly I went to a number of opens in Browns Plains and bar 1 Indian family, myself and the GF, all other interest was from Asian buyer (up to 5 groups per property). It make sense with Calamvale/Stretton/Drewvale etc knocking at the door. Super affordability by comparison with more amenities/retail on hand than anywhere within 10kms.

 

Can I ask, what do you consider to be that nice part of Waterford west?

 

Let me guess on behalf of @boganfromlogan...would that be the magical triangle close to Marsden? i.e. triangular section surrounded by Chambers Flat Rd, Muchow Rd and Kingston Rd

 

Yes it is stigma. I think you are 100% right regarding compton road.

 

The hype must be the transport oriented rezoning near the train station. Transport is everything isn't it?.......i like loganlea particularly and totoally for that reason

 

not a bad guess, really near taigum road wher the big blocks are.... that bit i like best. There is new development nearer the big scool (canterbury college or something), but around taigum i think is niceset

 

Any thoughts on Rochedale south?? Has anyone done much research in the area??