Bowen Basin QLD Mining Towns – Opinion on offer

Hi lou73,

The majority of houses in Middlemount are owned by one of the mining companies (Capcoal, off the top of my head). They have a couple of mines around the town, but there are also 2 other mining companies with working mines in the area.

Capcoal provides the housing to their workers. Since they own most of the town, if you don't work for them you have a hard time finding a house, either to buy or to rent. A lot of workers around middlemount live in Dysart and drive the hour or so each way to get to work.

Middlemount is a pretty nice town – the mining companies have invested in making it a nice place to live. Nice town centre, shopping centre (small), parks, child play areas etc. It's one of the nicest in the Bowen Basin.

Due to the shortage of supply, you would expect house prices AND rent to be high. This is borne out by the property that's on realestate.com.au at the moment http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=104595446&emailsource=emailalert. In Dysart, this place would go for about 330-350K. This is the first existing property to go on sale in Middlemount for a couple of months at least, so you might have trouble getting a bank valuer to agree. Shortage of supply means you'll probably get a good sell price as well, but it's hard to see a 3BR highset appreciating rapidly from that $480K asking price.

There's a new development going on in the town, with prices in the 300's and expected yields of about 700pw. There are about 70 homes in the development, and it's feasible that this kind of return is possible. It's at stage 1, and you can buy off the plan at the moment.

Middlemount is quite remote, so maintenance and property management is quite expensive, so a newer place is probably a better bet. There is talk about improving the road to the northeast, which would make Mackay almost reachable for a day's shopping trip.

Hope that helps,

Daedalus.

Nebo is a funny one. There are a few mines nearby, but it doesn't have a boom feel to it. It is predominantly a cattle town.

At the moment there are a number of vacant and unsold houses. Some of these are actually leased though to one of the energy companies.

There is talk of Nebo being set up as an 'inland port'. I understand this to mean that they will set up heavy manufacturing and servicing here e.g. they will build and service rail rolling stock for use within the basin. The advantage this would have is that Nebo is already up on the tableland where the basin is. It's another hour or two down to Mackay, and so Nebo would save a lot of hauling up and down the hill. If this comes off, Nebo would change appreciably.

Nebo is close enough to the coast that workers in the local mines often just live in Mackay and drive or bus to work. Some work 5 days/5 days off, and this lets their families enjoy a coastal lifestyle. This would seem to be infinitely more interesting than living in Nebo, unless of course you were born and bred there maybe.

Really nice pub in Nebo though

Daedalus.

Dysart is a bigger town, and is more central. It services large mines to it's North and South, and accommodates people who work near Middlemount. As a town, it is less 'artificial' than Middlemount. It started life like Middlemount in the 80's, but the mining company has been selling off housing for a long time – so there is a much higher level of ownership by residents and investors. Dysart has grown beyond the Middlemount style, and feels like it's getting it's own momentum. It is still only supported by mining though – no agriculture etc…

The shopping facilities are almost on par with Middlemount – there's an IGA and a few small retail blocks. Middlemount's is better though, which seems strange at first because it's a smaller town. Makes sense when you consider that Capcoal invests to attract workers.

At least one of the mines near Dysart is opening a new pit, and the new project near middlemount means a surge in demand for accommodation. The mines are owned by different companies, so there is some diversification there. It's about 2.5 hours from Mackay, so not too far for a day at the coast.

Note that maintenance is expensive. This is due to a couple of factors including captive market and very high disposable incomes in these towns. This is the reason the rents are high, but it also means other costs are high as well.

For building and pest inspections you are best off to use people from Mackay. I can supply contacts that I've used.

DISCLAIMER: I have a property in Dysart which I bought sight unseen. Now I've seen it and the town I am not disappointed in either the house or the town. My tenant is a construction company, and the rent has been very reliable.

Daedalus