Wednesday 20 March 2019

Buyers Active Despite Floods



Buyers Active Despite Floods
Townsville Bulliten
16 March 2019

Despite the devastating events of the 2019 Townsville floods, many Townsville locals are keeping calm and carrying on even when it comes to real estate.

With the decrease in quality rental availability, especially near the CBD, many landlords have increased prices on their rental properties. Townsville renters, reacting to that price increase, have begun to really see the benefit of buying.

“I had a client who was looking at renting an old 3 bedroom for $450 per week. He realised what he could buy if he put that towards his own mortgage payment and changed his whole game plan.” -Tammy Baczynski, Haven Townsville

Increased rental prices, along with the $15,000 First Time Buyers’ Grant and offers from land estates and builders, have been the tipping point for many renters to make moves to owning a new home.

This new generation of buyers are more flood aware. Just three months ago, the question for most buyers was price, size, or what the neighbours were like.  However, post-February 2019 floods, the first question buyers are asking is “Did it flood?” Haven resident, Lou Searle, said the floods were a real eye-opener but also put the proof in the pudding when it came to their investment.

“We have been renting in Haven Townsville for the last 12 months to get a feel for the area and the estate itself. During the recent floods we were very nervous wondering, ‘Will this water get higher? Will we be cut off? Where is that creek going to go?’ We need not have worried. Mundy Creek swelled and drained quickly, the Haven storm water drains have been engineered to drain not only from gutters but into the middle of the road away from houses.”

Lou and her fiancé Chris have been testing out a rental in Haven for over a year now and have just started construction on their brand new home.

“We love it. We bought a block and are commencing our build. While it is prudent ‘never to say never,’ we are confident that our investment in Haven will remain a positive move and recommend Ellis Developments as an operator who doesn’t take short cuts and builds quality into everything they do.” - Lou Searle

“Many of our clients were very nervous during the flooding, but were very happy to see their blocks remained unflooded throughout.  It gave them a lot of peace of mind to see our estate high and dry.” -Stephen Ellis 

That confidence has been positive for the new build market. “There has been a new house starting construction practically every week since the flooding with two more sold this week.” -Tammy Baczynski, Haven New Home Consultant

Even closer to the flood affected areas, soon to be residents too were relieved to see their blocks unsubmerged. While some of the earlier stage homes of The Village experienced water damage, all of the current land stock has been built up to Q100 and remained dry during the flooding. Local builder, Ellis Developments commenced construction on two homes at The Village just 2 weeks after the flooding subsided.

Ellis Developments Website:  www.ellisdevelopments.com.au
Haven Townsville Website:  www.haventownsville.com.au