Investing in Mackay

Hi Sarah,

There are a few recent topics on investing Mackay you can do a quick search.

Good luck.

I'm not sure what is in demand to be honest, but I am aware that there are guys on our project that are sleeping on floors and in the garages etc, so from that angle I would say the more bedrooms the better.

That's the only experience I can give unfortunately.

Cheers.

I don't think that is how CGT is calculated…

Pro-rata is a concept that becomes relevant if you lived in the property for a period of time and rented it for a period of time.

My understanding of CGT calcs are:

Cost of acquiring property …. minus holding costs …. minus sellling costs…. equals Capital Gain.  Let's say your capital gain is $150k.

If property has been held for over twelve months, divide the capital gain by 2.  So $150k / 2 = $75k.

Work out what tax bracket you would be in if you added your capital gain to your day job salary.  Let's say it is the 45c tax bracket.  So your CGT is (0.45 * $75000) + (0.015 * $75000).  That 0.015 is the medicare levy.

That's how I believe it is.  Certainly if here is some pro-rata at play I would love to hear about it because that would suddenly put A LOT more projects in the profitable category and this would please me.

Could an accountant on the forum perhaps clarify how cgt is calculated?

Yup that is more like what I understood to be how cgt works, cheers for clarifying Shahin.

We bought a few months ago in North Mackay (the part just near Mount Pleasant). Having some troubles at the moment with the plumbing but aside from that bought a 30 yr old 4 bed brick house and renting for $590 per week to four young people working in different industries up there. Could use a reno in five years or so but because the rental market at the moment is strong it doesn't warrant it currently. Plus we have to get over the plumbing bill

When we talked to various agents up there a lot said that many people in Mackay have the mentality that going over the bridges (from town to the northern suburbs) is too far. We found this hilarious coming from Sydney as it all seemed so close, even the North Beaches area which is a little further away. I guess the important thing is to think more like a local. We did buy over the bridge but just near Mount Pleasant so really not too far and this is a more prestigious neck of the woods from what we saw.

Agents (in particular property managing agents who do the letting) said that Ooralea, West Mackay, Mount Pleasant, Rural View and North Mackay were all popular with renters. A number of them also mentioned how important a big double shed and side access is…for the boat. It's true from what we saw up there, seems to be a prized feature. Some agents mentioned that the newer estates can be less appealing as they don't allow space for this.

I did a short stint for a company that sold properties up there and it is interesting to see the difference in the marketing perception as opposed to real perspective of good and bad suburbs you get when you visit an area. Definitely make a trip up there before buying and talk to as many locals as possible.

Hi Dubstep,

Three of us went up there and were laughing so much as it is all so close. By the end of the weekend we were feeling more like locals and I must say going from one inspection to the next on the schedule was made more annoying by the traffic on the bridges. Hate to think what it was like prior to the new bridge being built!

I guess that is why it is important to talk to lots of people in an area you visit, to really understand the mindset. It isn't Sydney so not surprisingly they don't get annoyed by the same things as we do. 

A few agents pointed out that if there was a downturn in the future that affected the low vacancy rates that it would be the outer lying suburbs that they would have more trouble renting out. Having said that Mackay has a very low vacancy rate and they also said at this point in time just about anything would rent out in a flash.