QLD Port Douglas Investment Advice

Hi
I’m just looking for some investment advice around buying in Port Douglas. My partner and I have been keeping an eye on sales on and off over the last 2 years and it appears things have really exploded since COVID. Properties are selling within a couple of days of being listed. In addition to that, the rental yields are really strong and there seems to be a very low vacancy rate. You can get huge blocks for approx $600k and weekly rent of approx $550
Overall I can’t really see any downside but wondering if perhaps there’s something I’m missing? I know insurance rates can be high but that seems to be the only negative at this stage and it’s not a deal breaker for us. Can anyone shed some light on the pros and cons of investing in PD? I tried to do a search but couldn’t find any recent dedicated threads unlike all the other regions of Queensland.

 

Broadly speaking...FNQ has been absolutely hammered due to no international tourists since the outbreak of COVID.

And international tourism may well take a while to recover too (3-5 years).

So in view of the above...why do you consider PD a great place to invest?

 

Despite the lack of international tourists, house prices have risen about 20% in 2 years which suggests that there is underlying demand for housing regardless of tourists. In terms of reasons why I think it’s a good place to invest, apart from the price growth just mentioned, there is also very low vacancy rates and strong yields.
It’s worth noting that we are looking at buying a detached house on a big block, not a holiday apartment in a resort (which would be vulnerable to a drop in tourist numbers).
The alternative is that I look to buy a house for $600k in Brisbane such as in Deception Bay however I won’t get the same rental income. With Port Douglas, you also have options to do a combined Air bnb/ personal use when tourism picks up.

 

Buying a property for personal use/Air bnb (which you didn't mention in your original post) is a very different kettle of fish to buying and leasing to long term tenants though: there's obviously some level of emotion involved because you personally want to holiday in the area, for example.

SQM is always a useful source of free data anyhow...although having said that...any source of data tends to be less accurate in terms of measuring market movements in small towns due to lower sales volumes/turnover, ect:

SQM Research - Property - Weekly Asking Property Prices - 4877

 

That website is great, thank you.
I would love to hear the perspective of anyone who has an investment property in Port Douglas, in terms of ease of getting quality tenants, property management fees, or any other challenges?