WA Port Hedland time to invest?

Port hedland the dust bowl of australia. Would never in a milluon years buy any form of property here. U go there for one reason, make some money in the mines then get the hell out.

 

And fortunately for you there are

Thank you for adding the grand sum of zero value to this thread and topic

 

I like your attitude. These number might be accurate. But do you really believe investing in Kabul will be a good option long term? This is exactly my point in regards to the mining towns.

There has been a marked decline in sales volumes as accommodation demand dwindles, which can be directly linked to job losses, mine closures and falling commodity prices. Mining towns have no life of their own. They and the property prices there are driven by these three forces which are strongly interlinked. If one goes down, all three go down.

Commodity prices are notoriously hard to predict. It just makes it feel more like a gamble than investment.

 

Beautiful times between 2001-2007, for those lucky investors who jumped in at around 200k in early stages of mining boom cycle, median house price in 2006/7 hit $1m
I lacked courage, did not jump in

One guy from forum retired young, going hard and early

Timing is everything, for those who purchased at peak 2006/7.....ouch

 

Yep. So true.

I've never had the guts or expertise or confidence to do this but how hard is it to time the start? Or there's about.

Are we at she start of another one?

 

Take the guess work out of it and actually wait till there is evidence of rising market, supply shrinking... i dont see this yet, volume decreasing

 

I don't see any positive factors that indicate a recovery except slight growth which might be due to CPI increases.
The rot appears to have stopped but no turning point

 

Dude we get it. You find it too risky and hard to comprehend and quantify, as you are entitled to. Now you're just going on random tangents and then sitting back pontificating like a busking philosopher

 

volume decreasing?
you could of.bought that 200k house you talked about 12-18months ago
can't do it now as the sales volume has increased and the stock for rent has halved

 

There you go bringing facts Into an unsubstantiated opinion fight again.

 

This is just anecdotal evidence, most of the people I know who live in Karratha and Port Headland are predominantly maintenance contractors, construction contractors, engineering consultants, explosive contractors, work at the shipping terminals, work at the processing plants, train drivers and road trains drivers. Very few people who work directly for the mines live in Port Headland/Karratha as most of the mines in that region are at least a 3 hour drive away from these towns.

The demographic of people who live up there are the type of people who are into 4x4's, fishing and boating. If you do buy a property, you probably want to buy a house rather than an apartment.

 

Seems the peak was between 2010 and 2013

 

You are pretty much spot on, my sources tell me the same thing. Strong demand for rental properties with room for 4x4's and boats. Miners do stay in town but generally in accommodation rented or owned by the company. Associated contractors and staff are your market. Steer clear of anything strata titled as the insurances are horrendous and in fair supply. Decent properties rent quickly at the moment.

 

Pretty much. There are very few, if any mines close to Port. Port staff stay in town. There isn't much to do if you don't have a 4WD and a boat. I agree prices are starting to rise, but just because they have started to rise, it doesn't make Port Hedland a good place to invest (yet, at least).

 

OK based on this. Even though the actual miners don't live in town.
The associated contractors such as engineers etc live in town. So although they may be needed less and more at different times of the mining cycle. Essentially directly correlating with the mining activity So it still is fair to classify it as a mining town

 

Pretty much. They still work in the mines, but they work on multiple mine sites. As an example, one of my friends relocated his family from Sydney to karratha. He is permanently based in Karratha, but on a daily basis, he will travel from Karratha to different minesites in the Pilbara region to repair mining equipment and return back to Karratha at the end of the day.

He says Karratha isn't for everyone, but he says there are heaps of people up there who have no intention of ever leaving Karratha. There are people who actually love living up there. There are some new land releases in the Pilbara region (Karratha/Port Headland/where you can buy a 900-1000 sqm block for between $70-$180k and they bring in a project home builder and build their dream home for $300-$400k.

 

But would they choose to live there if there were no high paying jobs.

I cant imagine these towns to be That unique or beaufitul to want to stay without other incentives

 

The mines they're building are to replace pits at the end of their life. Iron ore is a volume game and these miners will spend $ even if the industry is ramping down because it lowers their $/t cost, and maintains cashflow. Unlikely to be a net increase in operating jobs, as the current workforce will swing from the depleted mine to the new one. Construction jobs will be Fifo, so very little $ to be spent in or near the towns.

 

But I suppose port hedland is a major port in the north west, there is always a demand for housing but I believe it will stablise at where it is but is not going back to 2011/12 where a house would sell 800k in south and over 1m in port hedland.

 

Its amazing how many people love the lifestyle up there. For example, the fishing and diving of the Dampier Archipelago to the Monte Bellos is world class.