The lesser-known Queensland hot spots

Glenn “Goose” McGrath of Dashdot said one location that investors could skip over was the Moreton Bay region.

“What we’re actually seeing is between the hotspot locations in the Moreton Bay area, so your Strathpine and those kind of areas, between those areas and the Brisbane CBD, which is the point of greatest utility, we’re seeing too much supply risk in that gap,” Mr McGrath said.

“For us, that’s indicating that there’s not going to maintain that long-term growth trajectories. That’s obviously in the face of what a lot of other people are saying around that area.”

Meanwhile, he does see some investment viability in select pockets around Ipswich.

“There is supply routes on the outskirts of Ipswich, so that means suburb selection is absolutely critical. You really need to make sure we’re pinning down those exact locations where we’re going to get the maximum... based on location to utilities and facilities,” Mr McGrath said.

“The project pipeline is really strong in Ipswich, the local council’s got huge population growth targets, and they’ve been keen to meet those historically, so that’s very good to us, and that’s going to have a huge impact on the area.

“Plus, there’s a lot of both private and public infrastructure projects happening there, which is going to have a huge economic impact.”

North Brisbane was another area that Mr McGrath was considering, but he considers it to be more of a long-term play.

“What we’re seeing there is probably going to have slower first-year growth, but the long-term view is quite strong. I think everyone agrees Brisbane has got a positive outlook in the short to medium term,” he said.

Travelling even further, Mr McGrath said he sees positive signs in North Queensland, such as Townsville.

“It’s still early days there, but there [are] some pretty exciting times coming out of those areas in terms of particularly capturing undermarket values with strong yielding opportunities,” he said.

In order to find the strongest yields along with solid growth characteristics, Mr McGrath recommended to find property priced between $200,000 and $325,000, while a well-performing property in a development would cost between $400,000 and $500,000.