Hi,
I just completed a road trip to Qld mining towns Moura, Blackwater & Moranbah. I found Moranbah to be one of the most exciting little townships buzzing with allot of new development. It was hard to believe that families could pay $1000-$1200pw rent for a new home. I heard about this town through spruikers and investment magazines but had to see it for myself.Blackwater was also buzzing but not as expensive. Moura was like a coffin waiting to be buried. I was told some homes in Moura have been vacant for over 12 mths, ouch!
Just wondering if any property investors have purchased in these towns and if so what has been your experience with it? Also, if you have financed the property, which bank did you use as I am having problems with getting finance in these postcodes.
blackhotel wrote:I found Moranbah to be one of the most exciting little townships buzzing with allot of new development. It was hard to believe that families could pay $1000-$1200pw rent for a new home.Hi, I have just joined this forum.
I read your entry with a bit of relief as I have just purchased a house in Moranbah sight unseen on the basis of its very high rental return (10.1%).( I have never been to Moranbah and don't really want to other than to see my new house sometime.)
However I am very pleased that you found it to be such a positive town. We almost bought in Blackwater and looked at Moura as well.
Re banks. CBA valued my house at less than cost, however NAB used the purchase price as its valuation and I could borrow 80% OK. It was explained to me that it is partly because NAB has a branch in Moranbah that they know the market v well and do not need formal valuations all the time. Anyway I'd suggest NAB Mackay.
Have a look at this link (courtesy of a fantastic REA in Emerald), which is partly why we decided Moranbah was the best area (without actually going there).
http://www.century21.com.au/esales/TempMail/Coal%20Mines%20June%2009.pdf
The picture speaks for itself.
I would like to hear more of your impressions of Moranbah.
All of a sudden I find I am jumping with interest at any news item about coal, the new rail link, mining in general, BHP et al and their relationship with China and so on. A few month ago I couldn't have cared less what the coal industry was doing!
Good luck
Hi
I have a property in Moranbah and a friend in Blackwater, both have been fine and fully rented for the last 4yrs
Both areas had a small slump last year with the gfc, and rental prices came down. Some of the properties with and pre gfc lease have better returns than new leases, however returns should come up again due to all the hype.Have fun
Barry
Financed 2 deals in the last 2 weeks in Moranbah for froum clients and not had an issue on either of the deals.
Both fully approved
Like anything the security forms 1 side of the equasion but the borrower and your ability and capacity to service the loan is also important. Credit scoring depending on the lvr will have a bearing so will 101 other factors.
There is no general guaranteed answer as these things are too often client specific.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Hi Again,
Thanks for the information. House Call & basbog, your on a winner mate. Moranbah is an awesome town and I loved it there. I could even live there myself but my wife would'nt have a bar of it. Richard, which banks did you end up using to finance the deals?ive lived in moranbah for the last 5 years and i loooooove it here!! if there was a title for Miss Moranbah id go for it cos im an avid ambassador for what a great little town it is. our plan was originally to live here for 1 or 2 yrs … now its been 5 with a plan to be here for at least the next 5 years also.
we live in a company house so we only pay $100 rent a week … my husband's work pays the other $1100 a week. it was built in the 1970s we estimate but its had extensive renovations inside. it recently sold for around $340k (we never found out the final contract amount), which is pretty sweet when you are getting $1200 a week rent. very low maintenance – we basically never have to contact the real estate to report stuff.
i think the other thing that is appealing about Moranbah is that its only 200kms from Mackay … and the whitsundays are only a little bit further away. so u can easily do weekend trips to the whitsunday islands or go into town to escape. just today i did a day-trip into mackay to go shopping and do other girly stuff. its so close and handy to a 'real' township that its appealing to families and stay at home mums.
Hey Karen. You live there. If the coal industry somehow collapsed (very hypothetical I know) what do you think would happen to Moranbah? Is there other industries out there like farming etc. Is it a nice enough place that people would want to just stay?
nope – mining only. theres no tourism or farming or anything else. so if the mines close around here itll be a ghost town. but that being said the community is confident. my husband doesnt work for the mines, he is a computer techy, so i dont follow the mine activity but from what ive heard around town Moranbah still has least another 20 yrs in it. but i havent dont my own research so ud have to do ur own DD.
We bought in Moua in 2006 and until end last year had always had tenants. The house has been empty since then! There is talk that Anglo North opening back up and on the Goverment projects website, there are several big projects not far from kicking off…Belvedere mine, Moura Aldoga rail link and a big Coal seam gas project. Its quiet at the moment but more like the calm before the storm we hope! Lots of big projects in all of those towns in next few years. I guess whatever mortage you take on, as long as you could service it if the need arose then thats ok. Good luck with whatever you take on!
Hey Blackhotel,
give us an update. Have you found something to swoop on? And what bank did you use?That's the problem, i'm a low-doc borrower and banks won't lend on these post codes. I'll put in a call myself to the NAB in Mackay rather than go through broker. When I sought out the finance, I will only buy in Moranbah.
you should be able to get finance, just add the mortgage insurance onto the loan
blackhotel wrote:That's the problem, i'm a low-doc borrower and banks won't lend on these post codes. I'll put in a call myself to the NAB in Mackay rather than go through broker. When I sought out the finance, I will only buy in Moranbah.I believe Commonwealth Bank for lo docs will look at Moranbah and Blackwater postcodes as I used them.
blackhotel wrote:Hi,
I just completed a road trip to Qld mining towns Moura, Blackwater & Moranbah. I found Moranbah to be one of the most exciting little townships buzzing with allot of new development. It was hard to believe that families could pay $1000-$1200pw rent for a new home. I heard about this town through spruikers and investment magazines but had to see it for myself.Blackwater was also buzzing but not as expensive. Moura was like a coffin waiting to be buried. I was told some homes in Moura have been vacant for over 12 mths, ouch!
Just wondering if any property investors have purchased in these towns and if so what has been your experience with it? Also, if you have financed the property, which bank did you use as I am having problems with getting finance in these postcodes.
Marisa wrote:blackhotel wrote:Hi,
I just completed a road trip to Qld mining towns Moura, Blackwater & Moranbah. I found Moranbah to be one of the most exciting little townships buzzing with allot of new development. It was hard to believe that families could pay $1000-$1200pw rent for a new home. I heard about this town through spruikers and investment magazines but had to see it for myself.Blackwater was also buzzing but not as expensive. Moura was like a coffin waiting to be buried. I was told some homes in Moura have been vacant for over 12 mths, ouch!
Just wondering if any property investors have purchased in these towns and if so what has been your experience with it? Also, if you have financed the property, which bank did you use as I am having problems with getting finance in these postcodes.
I believe there are currently 85 houses on the market for rent, that is a bit of a worry? Wonder what is happening here?
I admit that I asked a mortgage broker who works out of Melb (Acceptance Finance) and he advised post code of Moranbah was no good to borrow for lo doc. Maybe because he is in Melb the banks are different down there!!!!!
Marisa – do you know what LVR CBA will do for lo docs in mining towns?
I ended up buying in Biggera Waters instead of mining towns, I'm a hands on investor and like to do all the managing myself so that's why I have not invested in Moranbah yet.
Marisa wrote:I believe there are currently 85 houses on the market for rent, that is a bit of a worry? Wonder what is happening here?I think you will find a lot of those 85 houses have already been let successfully and not taken off the realestate.com website. One of the ones still on there is a house we own that was rented out in late Feb and it is still listed as available. It was snapped up within a week of being listed on the net for the advertised rental
does anyone think that moranbah has the potential to have the same prices as karratha/port hedland?
The Central Qld coal fields are booming, definately another karratha/ port headland. l have just returned from a trip to central qld coal mining towns 24th May 2010, i met with local miners/managers, shop keepers, and councillors, i also checked local news boards, news papers.
I went out there to check whether things had slowed or not and how they faired throughout the GFC with the staff lay offs etc.
It appears the the GFC was a good thing for the mines as they could use it as an excuse to get rid of dead wood and to re-structure their businesses.
I was amazed things are booming from Blackwater to Moranbah but especially in a town called Middlemount (one of the fastest developing and nicest towns in the area). I was stunned to see that Middlemount has been over looked, yet it seems to be increasing its work force at a greater rate than in other towns in that area- Anglocoal is the main miner, they are currently doubling their output according to one of the managers i spoke to, and there are other new mines like Macarthur coal- Middlemount Coal which has been in the news alot lately.There is a shortage of commercial shop space and accommodation in this town (i could not get a room at the motel and had to stay in Capella caravan park 1 hour away). I think buying into or developing single to 2 bedroom units are the only way to go as the mines are focusing on getting people out of the dongas and into independant living to save them on catering costs.
I saw an approved 19 unit development site and commercial complex on 2 acres in the heart of Middlemount, i came across it by talking to an agent in Emerald- He was very helpfull, i could not find it advertised anywhere- but have since found he only has the unit development site part of it advertised under commercial in realestate .com.au. I am just hoping i can raise the money.
What i learnt most from the road trip was that it was worth driving to these places to get the information from the horses mouths and that sometimes the best opportunities are not on realestate web sites, or in the windows of agents but by word of mouth. Especially when the properties are unusual, as is the one i am looking at -ie there are so many opportunities: to subdivide it, do units, vacant land to do alot more with, ie – sell, build storage sheds etc, strata sections of the commercial – good passive income and the list goes on.
These towns, particularly Moranbah look very appealing/tempting, e.g. $450k purchase price with $850/wk rent for example.
That’s a pretty amazing return, but then of course you carry the risk of the $450k property being worth $150k if the mining activities suddenly cease in those areas.Obviously, the best approach is to have the intel up front to identify these towns before they get to this point. I.e. If you could have bought in Moranbah 5 years ago for say $200k then you would be absolutely laughing your head off now all the way to the bank. So the trick is to identify which town will be the next Moranbah, rather than buying into Moranbah for 450k I reckon. You would spew if you out laid the 450k and the town suddenly collapsed, even though I know that’s pretty unlikely any time in the next 20 years. It still is temping to buy there for the current returns.
NSW and the Hunter valley is another area I think where there are still some considerably cheap areas which are definitely going to kick up more over the next 3 or so years when some decent infrastructure is completed.
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