Why Yeppoon is proving popular with investors

The report and ranking combine the insights of a 14-strong investment expert panel and recent housing performance drawn from open source data and aim to give unparalleled insight into the Australian suburbs that are primed for future growth.

Just 38 kilometres from Rockhampton, Yeppoon’s proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and Great Keppel Island make it not only a tourist hotspot but a fantastic place to live for its residents, who enjoy its tropical climate.

Yeppoon is one of 18 Queensland suburbs to make this year’s report, off the back of 12-month growth of 19.60 per cent for the suburb.

It joins Rockhampton’s Norman Gardens as a suburb in the region to watch over the coming year.

With median house prices sitting at $550,000 and a median rent of $510 on offer for investors, long-term investors would not be surprised at Yeppoon’s recent results.

In fact, the suburb has long been noted as a hotspot, thanks to its location on the Capricorn Coast and an easily commutable drive from regional hub Rockingham, as well as the fact that flights between Rockingham and Brisbane depart daily.

Each year, approximately 30,000 tourists descend on the town of Yeppoon, with tourism, agriculture and lumbering all supporting the local economy, which is home to approximately 7,000 residents.

Looking back long-term, Yeppoon was one of the 111 house markets that saw price growth triple over the first two decades of the 2000s.

More recently, the area has reaped the benefits of regional migration through the COVID-19 pandemic, with Yeppoon being named as one of the top regions Australians desire to move to in 2020.

Earlier this year, Hotspotting director Terry Ryder called Yeppoon one of Australia’s “five regional cities that are still affordable and attractive”, noting that strong sales momentum remained in the local market through 2021 and 2022 — and much of this can be attributed to the relatively low property prices still on offer in the area.

Yeppoon even nabbed the second spot on a list of the most searched Australian areas for overseas-based buyers in 2022.

Mr Ryder is not the only researcher to tout the popularity of the area with home buyers and migrants.

Simon Pressley, the head of research at Propertyology, has flagged Yeppoon as a coastal location with work-from-home (WFH) appeal.

He believes locations that offer sea changes “will enjoy considerably increased housing demand for many years to come”.

With a number of projects in the pipeline for the area, including the $600 million Capricorn resort and the $500 million Lower Fitzroy River Infrastructure Project, plus billions of dollars worth of wind, solar, and battery farms, growth in the area is expected for years to come.

All of these projects will be underpinned by the Livingstone Planning Scheme, which is set to support growth and manage development across the entire greater Yeppoon area all the way through to 2028.

Yeppoon’s success comes as no surprise, given Queensland’s long-term status as an investor haven.

Edward Reavy, the founder and director of EKR Property, recently noted the Queensland housing market is under pressure at the moment, thanks to a new wave of interstate migration.

He believes it’s being driven predominantly by cost-of-living pressures in the southern states: “With recent interest rate hikes, the borrowing capacity of the average buyer has reduced considerably, and the price bracket they could previously afford to buy into is no longer attainable.”

Buyers in Queensland can purchase relatively better homes in prime locations within their borrowing limits, he indicated, effectively driving up demand and, therefore, house prices and rental demand across the state.

Already, demand for property is outstripping supply in Queensland, which will help keep house prices in places such as Yeppoon from “falling off a cliff” and in turn, further drive rental prices.

Mr Reavy also notes that there are South-East Queenslanders who are moving further north in search of affordability and quiet (and to escape migration influxes).

That’s why infrastructure development and employment opportunities in towns like Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, and Cairns are proving popular and leading to demand in their respective local housing and rental markets.

Touting Queensland as “the strongest economy in Australia”, the director believes that it’s a combination of affordability and lifestyle, infrastructure spending, and job opportunities that will see “owner-occupiers and investors rushing back to the market” once interest rates do stabilise.

To see what other suburbs made the Fast 50 2024, you can download the report here.