House prices in regional Australia
29 October 2015 by News Desk
House prices in Australia capital cities may have soared in recent years but prices have fallen in regional areas.
Hardest hit are Australia’s regional resource hubs – mining regions – where property prices have plummeted by up to 74% over the past three years. Queensland has been particularly badly hit with house prices falling 73.4% in Dysart and 70.6% in Moranbah.
Rental demand has now fallen and plunging rental returns have seen capital values contract by more than 70% in some areas.
On the west coast, residential markets in Queensland’s mining towns have also witnessed a fall in property prices, with the Karratha area recording a 44% fall in prices since 2012 – including a 31% fall in the past year, according to latest research by CBRE Australian ViewPoint.
Some home-buyers in Queensland are now being forced to pay a 30% deposit when buying property in Gladstone and other Queensland mining towns. With house prices in Gladstone currently around $346,000, the average buyer would need a deposit of around $100,000. However, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank currently only seek a 20% deposit.
