Rockhampton Queensland’s cheapest city to buy a home in, according to REIQ report

Rockhampton has been named Queensland’s cheapest city to buy a home in, however estate agents say the price point has created a new haven for investors.

In the latest Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) report, the city recorded the highest annual median house price increase for a major centre with an 11.8 per cent spike to hit $374,500.

Even with that sharp rise it was still lower than the next cheapest city in Gladstone at $400,000, Townsville at $407,500, Mackay at $445,000 and Bundaberg at $465,000.

The most expensive were Noosa at $1.285 million and Brisbane at $1 million.   

Rockhampton real estate agent Doug Webber said there had been an increase in higher end sales with more than 10 recent property purchases of more than $1 million.

But he said many homes in the cheaper range, between $300,000 and $500,000, were not making it onto the market.

Instead, he said they were snapped up by buyers’ agents acting for a long waitlist of interstate investors. 

“These buyers’ agents are getting paid anywhere up to $18,000 to find a property for their investors,” Mr Webber said.

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Mr Webber said diverse industries including agriculture, mining and renewables were making the area even more attractive.

“It’s not a boom bust sort of a town and at the moment we’re going through a period where Rockhampton is on the map of these investors,” he said.

Less than half the national average

Rockhampton’s median house price of $374,500 is less than half the national average recorded in the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ September report.

It said $925,400 was the national median price, with Queensland’s price tag sitting at $798,000.

Meanwhile in NSW, people were paying $1,187,200 on average, the highest in the country, followed by the ACT at $943,800.

The Northern Territory was the only place with a cheaper median home price than Queensland, at $525,900.

Todd Brandon is a Rockhampton agent who began his real estate career at the end of the city’s last property boom in 2008 when the median price reached $330,000.

He said the big factor in a rising market was how cheap Rockhampton was compared to other centres.

Mr Brandon said the homes were selling to mum and dad investors from capital cities, particularly in Victoria and New South Wales.

“We get strong inquiries for high-yielding, low-maintenance properties that are priced around that $400,000 to $450,000 range and return about $500 a week,” he said.

“They’re just chasing very high yield.

“We can offer property up here at seven-and-a-half per cent gross yield while in those areas where they live, they’re chasing less than two per cent yield.”

Good homes harder to find

Mr Webber said Rockhampton owner occupiers could still buy a decent home in the $300,000 to $400,000 range but demand was robust and that window was closing.

“They’ve tried their luck down south and they’ve been priced out of the market,” he said.

“I’ve just had a relative of mine who wanted to live elsewhere and missed the boat and couldn’t afford it and they’ve just come back and paid cash for a house back here.

“I’m talking good homes and that’s getting harder and harder.”