A Hot Real Estate Market in Darwin
Wendy Trewartha found herself in NT when her husband was transferred with work. It was here she realised a passion for real estate property and found a red-hot market. By Bronwyn Davis for the Australian Property Investor Jan 2007 magazine.
We started investing in Alice Springs because we were living there. When we moved to Darwin about four years ago, we realised we could make a better return. It’s also easier for us to own real estate investment properties where we live so my husband can do the maintenance. We looked at the returns carefully. We wanted to be able to negatively gear but didn’t want to have to make up a large shortfall.
Prices are still on the rise, but things seem to have slowed down a bit. A couple of months ago a real estate property would be in the paper once before it was sold; now it might be advertised for a couple of weeks. A house around the corner from us went up for action recently and I asked a few real estate agents what they thought it would go for. They all thought about $450,000 but it ended up selling to an interstate investor in real estate for $493,000. I think this real estate market will continue to increase in value. They’re doing a new 700-block development of property near us at the moment. They’ve just done the first stage, with land priced at $217,000 to $250,000 for blocks from 500 to 900 square metres.
This new real estate development should increase the land value on my own home, which is good because I’ve been using it to buy other real estate properties. I’ve found it easy to borrow against my own home because each time I get a valuation done, it’s gone up. I bought this house four years ago and had a valuation done when I first purchased my first condo unit investment in 2004, then another when I bought the last two real estate units about a month and a half ago.
We’ll have a break for a little while because we only just bought the last two. The next one will probably be something we can rent out now and retire to later. We thought about buying and building in the new estate, but I think they’ll be priced out of the rental market so we wouldn’t get enough of a return. Half of them are going to be defence houses though, so we might consider one of those.
Probably the same advice I gave my daughter – she’s just buying her first real estate property. I told her that as soon as she gets enough equity in that one to try to buy her next real estate property and keep going from there.
I would have got into it earlier. We procrastinated for a fair while before we bought that first unit.
The house I’m living in at the moment. That’s more than doubled in value in the four years we’ve been here. I’d say the same thing about the home I owned in Alice Springs. I bought that for $78,000 fully furnished and sold it 10 years later for $200,000. The difference being that this one has doubled in value in only four years.
I was working with the bank and I could see other people making real estate property work for them. At the time there were a lot of programs on TV about property investment too. They had a lot of millionaire experts talking about making money from real estate property and that really opened our eyes. I’m not the sort of person who likes to put all of my money into super. Now when I retire I can either cash in and use the funds from my real estate properties, or have them paid off and collect the rent from them. It’s a forced way of saving.
For more Australia real estate and pre-construction condos including waterfront and lakefront homes, please click here.
Why have you invested in Darwin real estate?
We started investing in Alice Springs because we were living there. When we moved to Darwin about four years ago, we realised we could make a better return. It’s also easier for us to own real estate investment properties where we live so my husband can do the maintenance. We looked at the returns carefully. We wanted to be able to negatively gear but didn’t want to have to make up a large shortfall.
How do you believe the real estate market is performing and what do you expect from it in the future?
Prices are still on the rise, but things seem to have slowed down a bit. A couple of months ago a real estate property would be in the paper once before it was sold; now it might be advertised for a couple of weeks. A house around the corner from us went up for action recently and I asked a few real estate agents what they thought it would go for. They all thought about $450,000 but it ended up selling to an interstate investor in real estate for $493,000. I think this real estate market will continue to increase in value. They’re doing a new 700-block development of property near us at the moment. They’ve just done the first stage, with land priced at $217,000 to $250,000 for blocks from 500 to 900 square metres.
How is this affecting your real estate portfolio?
This new real estate development should increase the land value on my own home, which is good because I’ve been using it to buy other real estate properties. I’ve found it easy to borrow against my own home because each time I get a valuation done, it’s gone up. I bought this house four years ago and had a valuation done when I first purchased my first condo unit investment in 2004, then another when I bought the last two real estate units about a month and a half ago.
Do you intend to invest further in Darwin real estate? Why?
We’ll have a break for a little while because we only just bought the last two. The next one will probably be something we can rent out now and retire to later. We thought about buying and building in the new estate, but I think they’ll be priced out of the rental market so we wouldn’t get enough of a return. Half of them are going to be defence houses though, so we might consider one of those.
What advice would you give about buying real estate property in Darwin?
Probably the same advice I gave my daughter – she’s just buying her first real estate property. I told her that as soon as she gets enough equity in that one to try to buy her next real estate property and keep going from there.
In hindsight, what would you have done differently?
I would have got into it earlier. We procrastinated for a fair while before we bought that first unit.
Your best real estate investment?
The house I’m living in at the moment. That’s more than doubled in value in the four years we’ve been here. I’d say the same thing about the home I owned in Alice Springs. I bought that for $78,000 fully furnished and sold it 10 years later for $200,000. The difference being that this one has doubled in value in only four years.
Why real estate property?
I was working with the bank and I could see other people making real estate property work for them. At the time there were a lot of programs on TV about property investment too. They had a lot of millionaire experts talking about making money from real estate property and that really opened our eyes. I’m not the sort of person who likes to put all of my money into super. Now when I retire I can either cash in and use the funds from my real estate properties, or have them paid off and collect the rent from them. It’s a forced way of saving.
For more Australia real estate and pre-construction condos including waterfront and lakefront homes, please click here.
Labels: Australia Property, condominum tips, Darwin, Homes, Hot Real Estate Market, Investing in Condominiums, Properties, Questions and Answers
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