SA Whyalla

Whyalla population to boom as Sanjeev Gupta embarks on upgrades
Who is jumping on the Whyalla train?

 

Nope, not me.

 

I almost bought there few years ago. Very close. Was a speculative play. Heavens were good to me and I decided against.

 

I used to go to Whyalla a lot during the 1980’s. I was the Project Leader implementing a maintenance management system for BHP Steel.

Back then, only two things impressed me about Whyalla:

1. It had a population of around 30,000 people and 7,000 of them worked for BHP (from memory).
2. The Works Manager knew all of them by their first name.

For me, I put small, one-industry towns like Whyalla in the same category as mining towns.

Way too risky for my hard-earned cash.

 

Wow you really get around..

I agree, I view it in terms of risk similar to a mining town. If you wanna buy there then it's purely a speculative play with moderately high risk.

 

“I go everywhere, man”.

In those days, I project lead three major implementation with that system, all at the same time:

1. New Parliament House
2. Snowy Mountains Authority
3. BHP Steel at Whyalla

Every second week, I used to fly Brisbane to Canberra (on a Sunday afternoon) to see 1, then drive to Cooma to see 2, drive back to Canberra, fly to Whyalla (via Adelaide) to see 3 and fly back to Brisbane (via Adelaide) on the Friday night.

To say I was knackered would be an understatement .

The wife loved it as she didn’t have to put up with me. But I did miss out on a lot of our two kids growing up .

 

vacancies have decreased signigicantly in the last year, 400 dwellings down to circa 70

regarding the population decrease and housing stock availability - i think you will find that the average number of people crammed under one roof was much higher in the 60s /70s than it would be today as it wouldnt be uncommon to be one of 5 plus siblings

 

jumped on the train a long time.ago

its been more of a roller coaster , for a while there we almost got derailed...

anyway im pretty confident that sanjeev will continue the good work and if his plant expansion dreams come to.fruition then any parcel of land in a decent location should be worth significantly more than it is today

 

Interesting perspectives, thanks guys for taking your time out to reply... I am only 18 don't plan on investing for a while but it is great learning and appreciate being able to ask questions and find out information related to me on here

 

I looked around 10 years ago - when we lived there for hubby's work. Didn't stack up then - and can't see it stacking up now.

There was a lot of new development but I found nothing very appealing about the town including the beach fronted by the nursing home and not a wave to be found. Not helped by an unhelpful council, a goodly percentage of the locals heading out every weekend - and the pro's being flown in on payday ...

 

What day is payday?

 

Every second Thursday - apparently

But I agree with previous comments. It is very much a one industry town with increasing automation and nothing much else to recommend it

 

By the sounds of this, it might be a “two industry” town .

I know which one would be more profitable.

 

Playford or just Whyalla?

 

Steel mill appears to be staying open. Sanjeev has not done anything so far to suggest otherwise. Whyalla looks promising for the future!

 

Hey Guys! a new bie here..
wamnted your thought on why people aremnt buying properties at Whyalla ?
can anybody explain? Or i am getting this thread wrong

 

It's a one industry town - with an industry that has a dubious future

 

Thanks Lizzie.

But if you see the rental market, the ROI is 6-7% return with a vaccancy rate of 0.2%.
is the situation bettre now?

 

No idea - haven't lived there in 12 years - but, as an investor, I'm very dubious of one industry towns. Have often seen people invest and take great returns for a short while - but when the industry leaves town then they are left with a stranded asset they can't give away.

It's up to you as to whether you're prepared to take the risk