QLD Townsville - Good time to buy?

Load of garbage, Townsville is vast city and it is different in every area. My value has gone up here in North Ward and I love it here, the beautiful Strand and beaches, the Tobruk Pool, the cafes and restaurants are lovely, the community is also very friendly. Shopfronts are vacant in centres all across the country, it isn't unique to Townsville. Plus there are plenty of jobs for skilled workers just not so much for unskilled or people with the wrong skills so really it is ok to forget the unemployment rate as it doesn't really mean much for middle and upper class. Projects like the Battery Plant, Singapore Defence Deal, Port Expansion/Channel Widening, new Ferry terminal, redevelopment of the Reef HQ and GBRMPA offices, Mater Hospital expansion, ongoing construction at Elliot Springs, the Tobruk Pool redevelopment, St Patricks new performing arts centre will all help, just remember Townsville is a pretty big area geographically and is expanding west, north and south. Some areas will perform better then others at different times just like the capital cities. Townsville really has been a victim of frivolous negative talk from southern media and local, the way they reported the floods you would think the whole city was underwater yet most of it was not, not a spec of damage in North Ward or Mount Louisa or Garbutt or North Shore or Cosgrove or Belgian Gardens.. jeez my list could go on and on as there are 99 suburbs in Townsville: List of Townsville suburbs - Wikipedia

 

I’m in North Ward, too. I agree it is a fantastic place to live — great lifestyle, very beautiful and fantastic public facilities. Prices in North Ward have not dropped since the flood, no. If anything they have gone up a bit with high rental occupancy while people from other suburbs wait for their homes to be fixed. But definitely down across the board from 2007 to 2010, 2010 to 2014 and 2014 to 2018.

As for empty shopfronts everywhere: I haven’t seen anything this bad anywhere else. Maybe I haven’t travelled to enough regional centres, but compared with the big cities or Rockhampton, Townsville has way more empty shopfronts and derelict houses (yes, even in North Ward).

So I am hoping for growth too and it might happen, but it might not.

 

Not disputing your overall point, but do you really consider all of those listed 99 areas as suburbs of Tville?

 

What sort of yields are being generated in Townsville?

 

Looks like townsville property has started to selling pretty well for last 2 months.

 

Rents are going up and I think sale stock is moving right now, hopefully growth is on the horizon.

 

Very interested in seeing how townie recovers. In terms of the far north it certainly has the population to do well. Let's see how it performs in 2020.

 

Our rental went on the market, got a tenant quickly and increased again - it has now gone up $60 in the last 18 months.
The rental market is very tight.
In my opinion, it looks like the cycle has started.
Happy days.

 

Mackay and Rockhampton are Adani’s FIFO cities. Here in Rockhampton where I’m based it’s already got a vacancy rate under 1% as a result. Cairns is highly dependent on the Chinese group travel And student market, so it will take some time to recover particularly vacancy rates.

 

Yes, record low rental vacancy, apparently: Townsville records record low rental vacancy rate - realestate.com.au

 

yep, 1 house for rent in suburb we own (west end). Normally would be between 12-20

Also very little for sale, just the stuff noone really wants at the moment

when this stuff starts selling its a fair leading indicator of pruce rises

 

Townsville property recovery has just started, probably good time to buy more?

Townsville property market at ‘start of recovery’ - realestate.com.au

 

What kind of property would you recommend for Tville? A house on large block or townhouse would do that as well?

 

House on a large block (600sqm) , townhouses may do ok in the right areas but at these current prices you would be mad to target a townhouse over a house.

 

Look for suburbs with schools , shops and fields. Close to the hospital and army barracks.

 

don't all suburbs have that?

 

So pretty much 95% of the town.

My observations would be houses in the affordable ranges are moving quicker, units slower, I agree with Grinch that I don’t see many positives in townhouses in a regional area, some bargains come up in the established market but some require work done

 

Suburbs that are affordable and worth a look into would be Hyde park, Hermit Park, West End, Pimlico and Currajong with the aim to buy high and dry.

I mean North Ward and castlehill would fall into premium range but just depends on budget.

No Townsville expert but with proximity to the city and decent facilities these suburbs would have the best drivers. (Happy to be corrected)

In regards to townhouses we purchased a 2 bed 1 bathroom townhouse for a great price as a PPOR (in cairns) however we bought it to suit our needs and for different reasons then we would an IP.

I just think for the $$$ in Townsville you are far better off targetting as large as land as possible in one of those suburbs high and dry and you should do well.

 

yep the suburbs you mentioned are good, maybe replace currajong with mysterton

i like south townsville due to proximity to stadium, palmer st, cbd but it has flood risk

belgian gardens is better than all of these suburbs so if yiu can find something cheap there it will do alright