Agents in Mount Isa are suggesting to buy now, with rent on the rise and the buying market is becoming increasingly competitive since the start of 2019.

LJ Hooker Mount Isa principal, Sherrie Tuppurainen, said after a few tough years we could start to see the writing on the wall that the market is on the rise.

“When rent starts to creep up that is always an indication that the market is improving, because the rental market improves first so tenants start buying which drive your market back up again,” she said.

“The average price for a three bedroom house is about $220,000 at the moment obviously if there are pools and sheds the prices increases with features.

“Sales are definitely picking up with more people looking to buy.”

Mrs Tuppurainen said the market had dropped a little bit looking at the overall pricing in a five year duration but there were some suburbs bucking the trend.

“Happy Valley, Healy and The Gap are doing really well, and so is Soliders Hill,” she said.

“While Soldiers Hill hasn’t grown in price it has held steady and the number of sales has increased, which is encouraging to know there has been growth in some of the suburbs.

“The good news is there have been a couple of sales in areas like Breakaway which is really encouraging to know that people are willing to spend over the half a million dollars. Which shows there is definitely buyer confidence coming through now, which we haven’t seen in a couple of years.

“I think people are starting to feel more confident, people have more job security and we are seeing more people coming to town. We have had a lot of new people coming from overseas contracts with the mine, a lot of people moving from the coast and they are saying ‘we will rent for 12 months and get settled with the family and then look at buying’ and we have seen that for the last 12 months.”

The demand for renting in Mount Isa is at an all time high with JL Hooker only having 10 rental properties on their books.

“Rentals are very scarce are the moment. The price to rent a three bedroom house starts anywhere from $300 a week, something with a pool you’re looking around $400 and in a nicer suburb you’re looking at $500- $600.

“We have a lot of the nicer homes especially in Healy that are three bedroom one/two bath receiving a minimum of eight to 10 applications. Those properties are also usually rented before the current tenant has moved out which definitely shows a sign of the times.”

According to LJ Hooker, properties in Mount Isa are selling fast with competition increasing.

“We’ve had a lot of people noticing there is more buoyancy in town. We’ve had clients ring and saying they have missed out on four houses and there is a sense of urgency, and not necessarily driven by us. But if they look online and see a house for sale and the next week it has gone under contract they realise people are buying up.

“Anything under $300,000 in a nice neighbourhood definitely sees competition to purchase, before houses become too expensive.

“It is really noticeable that people are moving from renting to buying, it is nice to see people have confidence  and want to actually buy and stay in town.”