Homes in one remote SA town are spending two thirds of the year on the market – but it’s not a sign that people are abandoning the area.
The median days on market for houses in Roxby Downs, more than 500km from Adelaide, is 286, according to latest PropTrack data.
It is the highest in the state and 113 days more than the runner up, Coober Pedy.
While the town’s median house price has dipped slightly over the past year (7.1 per cent) to $260,000, it has climbed 13 per cent over the past five years and the rental yield is 7.6 per cent – much higher than Greater Adelaide’s 3.67 per cent.
Raine and Horne Roxby Downs principal Craig Sumsion said there were two main reasons some homes were listed for so long.
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The Roxby Downs house at 5 Maireana Circuit recently hit the market with a $475,000 price guide.
“There are a lot available and we’re a single industry town,” he said.
“The issue for us is we’re in an isolated area … and people have got to want to live here to come here.
“Most people who live here have some association with the mine site.”
The town was established in the late 1980s to support BHP’s Olympic Dam Mine and today has a transient population of about 4000 people, according to the Roxby Council website.
While there are many FIFO (fly in, fly out) workers, Mr Sumsion said others who want to see their families each night relocate to the town.
“It’s very much a young family town,” he said.
“It’s a lifestyle decision and the lifestyle here is pretty relaxed, and there’s a lot more here than people realise.
“There are fantastic sporting facilities – each of the football clubs have associated netball clubs … then you’ve got the leisure centre, which also has a swimming pool complex.
“Generally, people will have lived here and rented here for some time.”
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The Roxby Downs property at 29A Finniss St sold earlier this month for $170,000.
Mr Sumsion said the market was performing “a lot better now than we’ve seen” in the past, despite houses’ high days on market.
He said depending on people’s circumstances, the town’s high rental yield made investing worth considering – especially as about half its population rented.
“I see the town as being quite stable, it’s going to be here for a long time,” he said.
“A lot of people who come here rent and they always rent.”
Roxby Downs has the state’s fourth highest rental yield, with Coober Pedy leading at 16.77 per cent.
Andrews Property director Warren Andrews, who has an office in Coober Pedy, said last month that cheap properties and strong demand for places to live were the main reasons rent returns were so high.
“We’ve seen rents rise fairly consistently, and in some cases dramatically, over the last two years,” he said.
“The available pool of rental accommodation is quite shallow too.”
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