Australia’s cheapest towns: Investment expert reveals the secret spots where you can buy a house with a backyard for $200k – and there are even homes that have sold for less than the price of a used car

Young people have long given up on being able to afford a house with a backyard on one income, but there are cities where the Australian dream is still alive and investors can find great value.

Earning six figures is no longer a guarantee of getting on the property ladder, even in regional areas where $100,000 is now the minimum needed for a home loan.

And you can forget about buying a house in a capital city on that salary, now that the average price is well over $1 million.

However, there are remote areas in Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia where prices have not been seen in Sydney and Melbourne since the early 1990s.

Some of these cities with a median home price of less than $200,000 are just a two-hour drive from a major capital city.

Dilapidated homes are also available for as little as $8,000 – less than the price of a used car.

The typical home is so affordable that even a part-time worker earning less than the full-time minimum wage has a chance.

All they need is a 20 percent down payment of $40,000 and the ability to put aside $1,000 per month in mortgage payments, which is easily possible with the full-time minimum wage of $47,622.

Wongan Hills, just 174km or a two-hour drive north-east of Perth, has an average house price of $202,000, even after an annual increase of 15.2 per cent in a wheat, sheep and pig farming area where fewer than 900 people live. people.

Peter Gavalas, director of Western Australia-based buyer’s agent Resolve Property Solutions, says these ultra-cheap towns tend to have one industry: agriculture or mining.

“In terms of the amount of work, I suspect there’s probably not much else going on besides farming,” he tells me.

“There could be good value if there is demand – if there are people willing to buy or rent.”

Kambalda West, 625km east of Perth, has a very affordable average house price of $183,027 and is just 20km from the St Ives gold mine.

Property values ​​here rose 8.9 percent in the year to October, CoreLogic data shows.

Despite this, it is still possible for someone with a 20 percent deposit of €36,605 to buy a house on a very low income of €28,158 – which is well below the full-time minimum wage of €47,622.

Last year in nearby Kambalda East, on the other side of the Goldfields Highway, a three-bedroom house sold for just $8,000.

Western Australia has several very affordable small towns, with Kellerberrin, 202km east of Perth, having an average price of just $195,000.

Last year, a piece of land there sold for just $33,000.

Mr Gavalas said very low-cost cities often experience no population growth, with the number of residents actually declining in some of these areas, based on census data.

“You need that population growth or demand in that area to get prices,” he says.

‘You may get a good return in terms of rent, but then you may not achieve the capital growth. There’s not enough demand in the area.”

Cooper Pedy, an opal mining town 526km northwest of Adelaide, has bargains for under $100,000.

In November, a three-bedroom house sold for just $65,000.

Mr Gavalas explains that there are risks associated with investing in mining towns, where the fate of the economy and employment depend on commodity prices.

“It’s probably a one-trick pony that relies on one industry to keep them going – it certainly won’t be people moving there for their lifestyle,” he says.

‘There must be jobs that arouse interest.

“You have to look at how many properties are actually sold in that area each year, how many are on the market.

“I suspect they won’t sell many properties.”

South and central Queensland are also affordable.

Tara, a four-hour drive 300km west of Brisbane, has an average house price of $193,893, even after a 12.7 per cent annual increase.

Central Queensland also has some very affordable towns inland from Rockhampton, with Dysart having an average price of $217,023 – and that’s after an annual increase of 12.4 per cent.

Blackwater, east of Emerald, has seen an 18 percent increase, but prices are still affordable at $229,603.

Investors are advised to look at larger regional centers with at least three industries and a population of at least 20,000 people for longer-term capital growth.

“Something that has more than one industry: I see a port, a railway line, a highway, some piece of infrastructure,” says Mr Gavalas.

Geraldton, 429km north of Perth, with a population of 38,595, has an affordable average house price of $401,676 and is home to a port that exports iron ore and lobsters.

Prices have risen by more than 20 percent in the past year, with Western Australia by far the best performing state in the country.