Investors have been making a small fortune with rental yields averaging 7-10% over the past 12 months.
Mackay recorded a vacancy rate of 1.0% in March 2022, which is slightly above Brisbane Metro’s 0.9% average.
Vacancy rates Mackay saw slight spike in the last 12 months, potentially due to investors capitalising on a tight rental market.
Yet it is still below the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s healthy benchmark of 3.0%. Thus, a conducive investment environment, especially with higher affordability due to a slower pace in house price growth in the past quarter (Q4 2022 – Q1 2023).
Where to invest right now
Mackay
MACKAY’S housing market has become Queensland’s biggest growth story, with the city once ravaged by the mining downturn now leading the state.
The latest Real Estate Institute of Queensland market monitor, released today, reveals the north Queensland city has delivered the strongest growth of any region in the state in the past 12 months.
Sarina
Sarina, about 30 kilometres south of the city, was one of the top performers, with its median house price up by 15.3 per cent.
Unemployment is the lowest in Queensland at 3.2 per cent and the residential sales and rental market is riding a new wave of confidence.
REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said agents in the region were reporting an optimism from buyers and sellers that had been missing for some time following the resources downturn.
“It’s a fantastic continuing story for this market,” Ms Mercorella said.
“Now that we’re seeing mines beginning to ramp up production, it’s great for Mackay, which is the main centre that services mining equipment.
“A lot of businesses have expanded their workforce and this is having a flow-on effect to the rental and sales market throughout the region.”
Other regions
After years of poor property price growth, regions like Gladstone, Rockhampton and Townsville are poised to become an investors’ paradise following the state government’s decision to give the green light for the Adani mine in the Galilee Basin.
According to the REIQ, Gladstone’s housing market is “closer to the end than the beginning of its price falls”.
The REIQ said the city’s median unit price of $171,000 was the most affordable of any major region in the state, making it “an attractive proposition for investors”.
Rockhampton, with an annual median house price of \$254,500, is the most affordable housing sector of all markets in Queensland, according to the REIQ.
The city’s median house price rose an impressive 15.2 per cent to $265,000 in the March quarter of this year.
Even Townsville’s housing market, which has been impacted heavily by floods, is looking up.
Over the March quarter, the volume of house sales dropped by 27 per cent, which is likely a reflection of the 3000 reported properties damaged in the flood event earlier this year.
Vacancy rates in Townsville also tightened from 4.3 per cent in December to 1.5 per cent in March, forcing rents upward, with the median rent increasing $18 for a three-bedroom house and $30 for a two-bedroom house.
