North Queensland

Tropical North Queensland, centering around Cairns and Port Douglas, is the tourist mecca for the wet tropics and known as the area where the reef meets the rainforest.  Few places on earth can boast such natural attractions as the Great Barrier Reef and the World Heritage listed tropical rainforests and, as a result, the area is famous for its many tourism destinations. Cairns is the fifth busiest airport in Australia.

There is no official boundary that separates North Queensland from the rest of the state, but unofficially it is usually considered to have a southern border south of Mackay.  To the north the boundary extends to the Far North Region centred around Cairns and out west to the Gulf Country.

Townsville, the largest turban centre in North Queensland is regarded as the unofficial capital. The major seaport at Townsville handles exports from the mines in Mt Isa and the cattle exports from inland areas.  The region contains a bulk sugar exporting terminal at Lucinda in the north and Mackay, Australia’s sugar capital also ships sugar and coal from its harbour.

With the advent of the Adani Company’s Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project –head office to be based in Townsville - the whole region and south to the Whitsundays, looks forward to a new era of growth.

The beautiful coastal beaches, townships and nearby islands including the Whitsunday Islands, offer accommodation options extending from back packer hostels to some of the best five star resorts in the country.

It is this proliferation of holiday/corporate accommodation and repeat business that has attracted many serious management rights operators and purchasers to North Queensland.

Calvin Bailey Management Rights will offer you unrivalled information about the Management Rights industry in the region having owned and/or managed several local Management Rights businesses. 

Queensland's visitor economy is now experiencing sustained growth in both domestic and international visitors and expenditure.

INVESTOR CONFIDENCE - Tourism and Construction

“Cairns now hosts 34% of all visitors to Queensland, and tourism is experiencing steady growth with increases across a variety of markets. China is now our largest market with 217,000 visitors per annum (up 31% on the previous year), followed by the USA (up by 18%) and Japan (up 17.6%). Indian visitation is growing rapidly, with a 25.6% rise over the past year.
Cairns has been hailed as “the leading hotel market in Australia” and a “thriving hotel market with strong prospects” by the US-based International Hotel Investment Forum.
This growth supports the case for new developments and Cairns is now a hot-spot for local and international investors. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in city-defining projects, giving confidence to others to invest. The new $65 million Cairns Aquarium has just opened its doors and Aspial Corporation’s $550 million Nova City is also taking shape. The GA Group has committed $100 million to redevelop the Rydges Tradewinds and a further $200 million for two new CBD hotel/apartment projects.
Other planned projects include the $500 million C3 retail/residential project and Kur-World’s $640 million integrated resort at nearby Kuranda”.
 

Reference: Developing Northern Australia Conference 2017

INVESTOR CONFIDENCE - Property Market

While real estate agents in Cairns still don’t use the term “boom” for good reason, the fundamentals for Cairns are more than sound, from positive population growth, housing affordability and job creation in tourism and construction. Rather than that of the “golden years” of rapid, unsustainable growth our city experienced before the GFC there is a realisation that a gradual, consistent rate of growth is more desirable this time around.

Others are not so conservative about Cairns’ prospects over the medium term.
“BIS Shrapnel chief economist Frank Gelber has labelled Cairns a “boom city”, predicting the next five years through to 2020 will see “enormous” cyclical and structural economic shifts in Australia that will benefit tourism-dependent cities”.
A few things to consider when investing in Cairns’ property market

• Supply and demand is the driver of house prices, and with record lows of new stocks of new homes and units, as well as reduced new land sales the economic signals are all there.
• When it comes to population growth, Cairns is bucking the state trend for regional areas and has maintained steady but below 20-year trend for population growth.
• Unemployment is now tracking below the state average and there is no doubt we are seeing significant improvement in the workforce participation in tourism and construction.
• Cairns as a regional city is still very affordable when compared to most other desirable place to live in Queensland.
• Rental vacancy rates are at long term lows of 1.8% as Cairns moves into its peak season.

Reference:  Rimington Projects Pty Ltd  rimingtonprojects.com.au