Hi Nona thanks for the industry insights to whats happening…..

I’ve come across several articles from the Daily Mercury that show some real positive signs for the future of the region.

Date: Dec19
Headline: Boom Time is Back!
by Clare Chapman
According to a recent manpower survey hiring across the mining and construction sector is forecasted to increase in Q1 of 2010 with a projected growth of 20%. And there is indications of skills shortages with specialized trades people in high demand such as experienced hydraulic fitters and electrical control systems engineers (would be interesting to know what aspect of mining these positions fall into).
Mining Logic managing director Glen George who provide specialized electrical and mechanical trades services to the underground coal mining industry said that they have work locked in from Jan to June and an extra 30 staff would be required.

Date: Dec 30
Headline: New Jobs in Pipeline
by Clare Chapman
She writes of the vast amounts of natural gas that exists under Moranbah and its surrounding area, and that billions of dollars will be pumped into the area over the next few years creating hundreds of jobs in the region. A 450KM pipeline from Moranbah to Gladstone is on the cards. Exactly how much gas is there? 35,000 petajoules has been found in the early stages of a $300million exploration program by Arrow Energy. For the record 1 petajoule = 29million liters of petrol. (i don’t know accurate that is but it seems like a hell of allot to me). The questions is i guess is it all commercially viable for gas production.

Mummyto3,

A highset with a covered entertainment area, 3+beds, good bathroom, fenced and maybe a shed is a great buy if you can find it for a good price, i tend to think that the prices in Dysart are somewhat inflated, and wouldn’t really give you much more in the way of a capital growth unless you would be willing to do some added value renovations. Something you should then consider is the cost of renovations/maintenance in Dysart and surrounding areas is far more expensive (3x at least) than what you would find in a big city.

The rental returns however for such a property are undeniably ‘awesome’ to say the least.
The property/rental market does not move in the same way it would in a big city since the entire town is pretty much dependent on the mining industry. This proves that there will big swings in the market. I spoken to experienced estate agents in such areas and they said the same thing that everything moves in more volatile cycles more so than your conventional property in a city market. So there will be periods like the current moment we are in where things are very quiet, and it will be the more sought after properties like the one you are looking for that will have the best chance to be rented out to generally managers and their families.

I have a low set 3bdr property which has not been tenanted for 12months now. I have renovated as much as i could by laying new carpet, blinds, aircons, cleaned the place up real good….but still struggling to get a look at for $550pw.

Hi everyone….

start off by saying this is definitely the most informative forum I’ve come across, thank you all for making it so with your regular contributions. Being from Sydney the information on this site is of great value to me.

I have a property in Dysart which was being managed by R&H Mackay up until late last year. When my property became vacant I really started struggling to find a new tenant, and unfortunately R&H didn’t seem to be up to the task in managing my property.

I had a good relationship with the former principal from R&H who was now working for Vision and she immediately gave me a ton of advise prior to me even having signed a management agreement with them.

Once I handed over the reigns to Vision they went to my property (they have an office/ permanent property manager in Dysart) took a heap of photos of everything that needed to be fixed and then got me quotes on the costs involved to get the place fixed up. That is something that R&H neglected to do for the 3 months my property was vacant for.

So I give a big thumbs up to Vision….I just hope they find me a tenant as soon as the place is fixed up a bit