Have been looking at older style units in the outer Cairns area. They seem to be offering reasonable returns. Am thinking of taking a trip (from Sydney) to have a look around. Does anybody have any comments on this area?
Cheers
Any comments?
Hello,
We live up here and have a 2BR townhouse in Edmonton. There has been decent growth and the returns are comparably good.
I wouldn’t touch the centre of Cairns and there are some dubious areas but in the southern coridoor, (nappy valley)I would say go go go!
A trip to Cairns is always a good thing.
Have you seen the new Esplanade area? The plans to expand both south and north of Cairns centre are also exciting!We love it here if you haven’t guessed!
Any other questions, just let us know….
I’d say, listen to specific.
I’m also from Sydney and own a few units in Cairns area. When looking at units in the area you may see a 2 b’room unit for 120-140k returning 150-170pw, on the surface it looks good, but factor in body corporate, rates and PM fees and these 3 costs along will ad up to 3.5-4k pa or approx $75 pw. That is a big chunk, add the interest costs and you are holding a -ve geared property at the top of the cycle, and it will likely stay that way for some years.The only reason that I would buy there now is to buy the other half of the block of units in the same complex that I already own. Other than that look further out, and maybe at house with large block of land, if its within your budget.
As for taking a trip up there I’d say go for it, wait for the cheap airfares to come online then book a few days up there.
Mal
Getting out of your comfort zone, can help you become comfortable
Thanks for those replies.
From looking at realestate.com.au it appears that cheaper units have a better return than houses. Will have to go have a look myself … get out into the real world. Am getting square eyes from staring at the computer.
Cairns appts are great if looking at holiday rentals but they are seasonal (greater vacancies during off-peak periods). However a decent manager can usually keep them full.
Most Cairns locals are either in the southern or western suburbs. North is where the rich people live [biggrin].
Go have a look. At worst you’ll have a top holiday.
WAZL,
Come a few weeks I have plenty of TIME on my hands and may be able to assist you in your search while I am doing mine. Post me a private reply if you are interested.
JAKETHEMATE[biggrin]
I have a unit in Cairns at the moment – purchased in July.
I am avoiding units now and focussing on houses and generous land sizes. There are a lot of new units to come onto the market in the near future and i believe this will have a negative impact on prices for units. Yields over the last 24 months have dropped from 9% to low 6% – very low. Unit Prices have increased dramatically over this time.
But this is only my opinion.
OSS
Originally posted by specific:Hello,
We live up here and have a 2BR townhouse in Edmonton. There has been decent growth and the returns are comparably good.
I wouldn’t touch the centre of Cairns and there are some dubious areas but in the southern coridoor, (nappy valley)I would say go go go!
A trip to Cairns is always a good thing.
Have you seen the new Esplanade area? The plans to expand both south and north of Cairns centre are also exciting!We love it here if you haven’t guessed!
Any other questions, just let us know….
Just don’t forget that Cairns is in a cyclone zone. You won’t get flood insurance if the water comes from a storm surge. Hasn’t happened in living memory but it can happen. A relative of mine had a house completely wiped from the map in Home Hill. They couldn’t even work out where it had stood before hand. No insurance possible so total loss.
If you’re building is quite old it might not have been built to the latest standards. This particularly applies to early 1970’s and earlier buildings.
Cairns is a good place and growing well. Just don’t forget that North Queensland has a big storm bullseye on it, and this needs to be taken into account. Just ask people in New Orleans if they’d buy in a low lying area again.
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