Surat Basin – which town to invest in?

Hi there,

The best place to invest really comes down to what you want out of the investment personally. See below

– Dalby – would be careful here right now due to flooding and over supply. On the plus side it is a great town with a lot of backing, only an 1.5hrs from Toowoomba & 3hrs from Brisbane and is the gateway to the Surat Basin.

– Chinchilla – my personal favourite due to high capital growth predictions, major retailers coming to town currently like Woolworths, McDonalds, KFC etc, large mining companies around – Extrata, BHP, Santos, Link Energy, 200 years worth of gas (LNG) reserves, 20-25 years worth of coal reserves, direct rail link & LNG pipelines to Gladstone and it is backed up by a massive agricultural industry.

– Miles – great area also, good solid growth, excellent rental incomes right in the middle of the mining boom

– Roma – massive rents (cash-flow positive), beautiful town, has its own airport, all major retailers already in town and sits on the the same mining interests as Chinchilla.

– Others? Too many others to list but you need to look at the size of the towns, what is the longevity of the town, why is it a good place to invest and does it meet your investment long term strategy.

Hope this helps, don't hesitate to contact me directly on the details below if you would like some further information on any region.

Property Investor 1

We built with a local builder Pm me if you want their name they are very helpful and build a nice home

JPS25

Matt, you can pretty much bank on around $1400 – $1500 per square meter but it really comes down to your inclusions! Our homes are built for around the 270k mark which include Chef, Westinghouse & sometimes Miele appliances which is a big difference to the Chinese crap available as we usually build 5 at a time.

i.e. worst case $1500 x 200m2 = $300,000

If you have a design you want quoted feel free to email it through and I will pass it onto our builders and see what they come back with.

Property Investor 1

make sure that when you look in the Surat basin that you dont invest in an area that has a higher construction workforce than running workforce. In the LNG industries the figures are around 45-50% less long term workforce than construction workforce. Whilst the next 5 years might be GREAT! you may find that 45-50% of employees will not be there by then. Although the mining will be continuing the workforce to runt he operations is a lot less than the workforce needed to get it running.

Most investment place wont point this out to you, but you could be screwed in 5 years with a property that may not have grown at all in long term values.

Their are many more viable stable towns to consider than these if you want long term. If its short term than that great…you just need to rely on the greater fool theory in 4/5 years time!

research the companies that are investing here and look into detail into the EIS.

Im not anti mining regions…I’m Pro them! i have 15 properties in central QLD and will be building another 10 next year to hold..just pick your areas

JA

Sorry for the delayed response.

I may be biased and call me to have all my eggs in 1 basket but i have made over $1m in the town of Emerald over the last few years. The reason for this is that house prices are still very affordable (although going up quickly). The reason for choosing this town is that it is not dependant on “hype” not everyone knows about it and it isnt published in the magaines all that often. It is a true diverse regional centre with mining and agriculture at the centre of it. The people who move to the region move for the long term due to lifestyle AND work. not JUST work like chinchilla where they will eventually move away once they have done their “mining stint”. capital growth has been very high over the last decade and looks set to continue.

I could go on forever but this is a long term stable investment environment which is overlooked and should be considered more so than those towns that will be affected greatly if 1 mine changed its course of action etc.

PM me if you want any more info

Cheers

Hi Jean & Paul,

Can I ask what builder you used in Chinchilla?

Thanks

So a year on from this post i would love to hear how you are all positioned and thinking now regards this area? There seem to be many towns in this area that have and look to continue to do very well into the next 10-20 years.

In looking at this region compared with Mackay, Townsville areas I am seeing that this region has more than just mining sector and LNG, it has agriculture, cattle…. however I keep believing that our East Coast towns/cities will always be where the longevity will be, so short term and long term gain.

Very undecided between the two regions, leaning though towards the coast, for possible cask flow plus longer hold as opposed to Surat for just possible cash flow and short term…

Your comments please…those that have purchase in Surat, those that are looking seriously at it, today and tomorrows pros and cons as you see them a year on from these comments of 2011.

Thanks

if anyone updating, would be interested to hear about the future of Roma; how long does it have left?

Chinchilla remains as an unbelievable investment at this time. Prices have gone up somewhat and will continue to do so in the future, you have to be extremely careful which estates to buy into and putting the right product on it as the wrong product will greatly hinder your future resale options. Don't be fooled by the smaller 450m2-580m2 cheaper blocks and contrary to what people say if you have or do purchase a smaller lot don't expect top dollar rents as it wont happen.

We have clients in town whom are obtaining between $600 – $650pw for a unfurnished house & between $800 – $850pw for a fully furnished house on 800m2+ of land with 4/2/2 with separate lounge/media rooms. Another great addition is an external garage this jumps the rents up further again.

Chinchilla is a unique little town, there are limited land lots due to the flood plans and current town plan with a huge workforce coming to town; population is growing very steadily as too a lot of large retailers, shopping centre etc. It is still my personal favorite investment area hence why i have just purchased another property in town, if you want to know more please feel free to call me at anytime.