Coastal homes can be cheap

A NEW year means fresh chances for real estate buyers to bag a coastal bargain.

The start of the year is traditionally a busy time for the southeast's main beach hot spots, the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

And while both those markets appear to still be offering some significant bargains at the moment, thanks to the lingering effects of the global financial crisis, there are many other coastal and beach areas in the state where the buy-in price is a lot cheaper and the crowds during peak times a lot thinner.

If it is just beach that you are looking for, you don't have to travel too far from the Brisbane CBD.

According to figures from RP Data, it is the islands in the Redland local government area which have the cheapest median dwelling values in the state.

Russell, Lamb and Macleay islands top the list as they often do, with medians ranging from $215,421 to $239,503 and a combined 113 sales in the year to September.

If you are looking for something more mainland, Scarness in Hervey Bay comes in the cheapest, with a median house price of $275,890 and 51 sales for the year. Nearby Pialba, with a median of $276,044, was close behind.

Point Vernon and Urangan in Hervey Bay also featured prominently.

Property analyst Terry Ryder picked Hervey Bay as one of his ``long shots'', as a place which could be worth taking a punt on.

He says tourism areas such as Hervey Bay are emerging as fly-in fly-out home towns for people working in the mining industry.

With little price growth in Hervey Bay in recent years, it is still an affordable place to buy.

While not many may think of Deception Bay when thinking about coastal suburbs, it also featured in the top 10, and had the highest number of sales during the period of the cheapies, with 238 dwellings changing hands.

Burnett Heads in Bundaberg proved good value with a median of $293,061.

Tim Cox of Ray White Hervey Bay agrees that Hervey Bay is one of the most affordable coastal areas in Queensland. He reckons it would give a lot of other states a run for their money as well.

He says there is a wide variety of housing types available in the region, from high end ultra-luxury units, to beach shacks and suburban homes.

"Once you got a bit further north towards Bundaberg you get into the mining areas,'' he says.

Coastal property prices near mining towns tended to be higher because of the higher incomes and demand for properties.

But Mr Cox says Hervey Bay is also benefiting from the mining boom, with fly-in fly-out workers buying there recently.

"We also get a lot of baby boomers who come here because of the climate,'' he says.

He says some have come from towns feeling the effects of the mining boom such as Gladstone and, fed up with it being too busy, have opted to retire in Hervey Bay.

Young families are also enticed by the weather and cheaper buy-in prices, according to Mr Cox.

"We probably lack a lot of professionals in the 30 to 50-year-old age group,'' he says.

Mr Cox says prices in Hervey Bay have dropped between about 8 and 10 per cent since 2008.

"Average house prices were around $312,000 and now it's around $290,000,'' he says.

He says Hervey Bay was originally a series of separate villages, but Urangan, Pialba, Point Vernon and Scarness gradually joined together and the area became one big region.

"In 2003 to 2006 most of the people who were coming to Hervey Bay were coming from the south,'' he says.

"Probably in the last couple of years a lot of the older people are coming from Gladstone, selling where they have lived for 20 years and getting big money and coming here.''

WHERE QUEENSLAND’S CHEAPIES ARE

1 Russell Island

2 Lamb Island

3 Macleay Island

4 Scarness

5 Pialba

6 Deception Bay

7 Point Vernon

8 Burnett Heads

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