Pilbara offers only rarest of property investment nuggets under $400,000

Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region, the state’s iron ore mining heartland, has topped the list of regions with the lowest proportion of annual sales under $400,000.

According to research by RP Data, just 5.8% of sales in the Pilbara region were under $400,000 over the year to August.

There were nearly four times as many sales below $400,000 in the second-ranked Kimberley (22.1%) region, which lies just above the Pilbara geographically, and benefits from mining as well as tourism.

Third was Canberra (22.1% of annual sales) and fourth Sydney (30.3% of all sales).

The Pilbara is a vast region covering an area of 502,000 square kilometres in northern WA running west from the coast. Its main mining towns are Karratha, Dampier, Port Hedland, South Hedland on the coastal edge and Newman and Tom Price in the hinterland.

Property Observer has scoured real estate listings in these mining towns and found only four properties currently listed for sale under $400,000, three of them in the Karratha suburb of Bulgarra and one in the Karratha suburb of Pegs Creek. All of them are one-bedroom apartments. None of the other mining towns had properties listed for sale under $400,000.

Property Observer only considered existing properties with a listing price advertised under $400,000 and excluded vacant land and house-and-land package listings.

$182,000

A one bedroom unit being sold by Ray White Karratha on Warambie Road in Pegs Creek (pictured below).

$299,000

A one-bedroom ground-floor apartment on Ridley Street, Bulgarra (pictured below), being sold by Jackie McVee of First National Karratha.

$350,000

A one-bedroom bedsit with separate bathroom and toilet on Ridley Street in Bulgarra (pictured below) being marketed by Richard Naulls of Ray White Karratha.

$375,000

A furnished one-bedroom bedsit with separate bathroom and toilet on Ridley Street in Bulgarra (pictured below) being marketed by Richard Naulls of Ray White Karratha.