Hi Sam,

As a new investor I can’t offer much from the experince of rental markets in small towns but I thought I would tell you about a recent visit I had to a small town in southern queensland where the rental market and property prices floored me. The population was less than 10000 (much less), property prices were what I would expect to pay closer to Brisbane and development was being pushed along by a massive development (that’s the only hint I’ll give about its location). After speaking with locals about what was going on I was quickly told that you can’t get a rental property in this town. They simply don’t exist. I did find a few rentals ranging from $130 (already let) up to $400 (vacant). Yet there is a large presence of construction workers in the town who no doubt needed to live somewhere. Property rates had recently increased much to the disgust of the locals, but the council said they had no choice, otherweise they couldn’t fund the necessary developments required to meet the growing demand. And the “significant” development driving this boom was about to be replicated with a similar project within the same vicinity. So what’s so amazing about all this? This town, stuck in the middle of nowhere (I do apologise to anyone who may know this town and disagree with my description of its location), with a very small population was experiencing nothing short of a property and development boom diven by a large capital works programme. It would seem this “small” town would have been a wonderful place to invest a few months ago … maybe it still is? Population is not always a deciding factor on where to invest for the next boom.

cheers
Biscuit