Australian Property Investor has just released its Top 100 suburbs of 2012. Gladstone comes in at No 34. In my opinion any of the Top 50 can be numbered in any order and they all have the best investment potential.
Australian Property Monitor, Herron Todd White (HTW), PRD-nationwide, RP Data and Real Wealth Australia all list Gladstone as one of their favourite hotspots for 2012. We at APS Growth also believe it is not hard to see why.
Anthony Simon, editor of RealEstateInfo.com.au believes with approx 39,400 construction jobs alone will see a significant increase in rents and allow investors to take advantage this strong cash-flow, coupled with strong capital growth. The population growth means a 31% population growth and is predicted to double the population in 20 years.
Anthony believes that with $77 billion worth of estimated resource projects under way or advanced approval stages, very high average incomes (which is raising), and the huge under supply of dwellings give investors the confidence to invest within such a powerhouse location.
The important point is to buy what the rental market demands. At least 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and best to have two parking (one is ok). Vacancy rates have remained below one percent for the past 12 months and expected to remain extremely low. Again, another pressure point for rents to increase.
Infrastructure is always a key issue when experiencing such strong population growth. Gladstone more than ever is seeing the pressures that the major cities of Australia encountered over the past century; the difference between Gladstone and say a Sydney or Melbourne currently, is that Gladstone infrastructure will benefit from the huge foreign investment (Note: Gladstone was recently ranked as having the worlds largest foreign investment) pouring into projects and in-turn allowing governments to capitalise on the extra revenue… allowing more funds to be spent on infrastructure. Having said that, this infrastructure still takes time to up-grade or build; hence why Anthony always suggests buying were a majority of infrastructure is already complete or nearing completion.
At the end of the day, Gladstone has changed dramatically over the past 5 years and will change dramatically again over the next 5 years. This allows all investors to take advantage of this change and capitalise on the powerhouse that Gladstone is and continuing to be.
