{"id":435316,"date":"2026-01-24T22:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435316\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T22:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:42:23","slug":"new-residents-purchase-real-estate-in-barcaldine-attracted-by-affordable-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435316\/","title":{"rendered":"New residents purchase real estate in Barcaldine, attracted by affordable prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kerry Duncan was living pay cheque to pay cheque, servicing a mortgage on her Townsville home, when she decided to sell up and retire somewhere more affordable.<\/p>\n

The 59-year-old receptionist had a limited budget but big ideas.<\/p>\n

“I thought ‘I’ll just have a quick look online \u2026 I put a budget in of $150,000 and was very surprised that there were quite a few houses under that amount,” Ms Duncan said.<\/p>\n

\"lady<\/p>\n

Kerry Duncan is settling into debt-free retirement in Barcaldine. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

So her search for a new house led her to Barcaldine in outback Queensland.<\/p>\n

She said she found a “charming” fixer-upper cottage online for $140,000.<\/p>\n

Ms Duncan moved more than 800 kilometres to Barcaldine in November, where she now owns her home outright after the sale of her Townsville home.<\/p>\n

\"white<\/p>\n

Kerry Duncan purchased her new Barcaldine home for only $140,000. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

While she had no prior connection to the town of roughly 1,500 people, she has an array of renovation projects to keep her busy as she settles into retirement, and a few neighbours willing to help out.<\/p>\n

She is not the only one to discover the area’s affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Outback investment<\/p>\n

Jack Jones, 25, moved to Barcaldine last year for work after graduating from university in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Jack Jones discovered the region’s affordable housing when he moved from Brisbane to Barcaldine for work last year. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

He said he quickly realised the housing market was very different in the outback town.<\/p>\n

“I started doing the maths a little bit and saw that the price of renting a house in town was going to be pretty close to what it would be to pay off a house of my own,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Jack Jones says his new home was cheaper to buy than it was to rent in town. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

Mr Jones purchased an old three-bedroom Queenslander for $220,000 in 2025, taking advantage of the federal government’s 5 per cent deposit scheme.<\/p>\n

“When I sat down and crunched the numbers \u2026 in my circumstance the repayments are cheaper than renting a house in town,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I saw it as a good opportunity to get into the housing market, and I really love living in Barcaldine.<\/p>\n

“It’s an easy way to do it out here because houses are so cheap compared to Brisbane.”<\/p>\n

Rare affordability<\/p>\n

Barcaldine’s median house price is $162,500, which is six times lower than the Brisbane average of $989,000, according to Cotality’s latest Market Trends report.<\/p>\n

The median asking rent in Barcaldine over the past six months is almost half that of Brisbane’s, sitting at $320 per week compared with $650 per week.<\/p>\n

\"house<\/p>\n

The median house price in Barcaldine is $162,000, six times cheaper than in Brisbane. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

Ray White head researcher Vanessa Rader said the town was one of the few markets in Australia where it could be “cheaper to buy than rent”.<\/p>\n

But she said it was something investors were increasingly aware of.<\/p>\n

“We are seeing a lot of people looking at that and thinking, ‘Hey, this is a good market for me to invest in’, so we get investors coming into the market, but we also have first home buyers,” Ms Rader said.<\/p>\n

“When you look at the rental yields that are on offer in some of these locations [like Barcaldine] and the low [price] entry point for investors, we will see these markets continue to trade and some uplift in capital values [based on continued economic activity].”<\/p>\n

\"town<\/p>\n

Barcaldine is a town of 1,500 people, an hour’s drive east of Longreach in central west Queensland. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

Ms Rader said the home buyer schemes that have fuelled price growth in the major cities had allowed buyers in the west to access affordable homes.<\/p>\n

“Those looking to buy a property in a regional location \u2026 they’re really being able to do that with somewhat ease given the price point we are looking at and the 5 per cent deposit [scheme].”<\/p>\n

Buying into a caring community<\/p>\n

For Ms Duncan and Mr Jones, the country town spirit was also a major drawcard to move away from cities.<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

Kerry Duncan has already had offers to help out from locals in town as she begins shaping her new home. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

Ms Duncan said her neighbours had already come around to give her a hand.<\/p>\n

“I’ve met some of the old guys in the pubs, and one guy already came round and put some blades on my mower,” Ms Duncan said.<\/p>\n

“There’s just so much good in a small community.<\/p>\n

“I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the gardens, they’ll take a good 12 months to sort of make sense of where things are.”<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Jack Jones says he would not have been able to purchase a home if he were still living in Brisbane. (ABC Western Qld: Jay Carstens)<\/p>\n

And for Mr Jones, he’s grateful for the head start moving out west has given him in escaping the price pressures of the city.<\/p>\n

“If I were still living back in Brisbane, I would not even be in a place where I’d be thinking about buying a house at the moment \u2026 the cost of living back in Brisbane is ridiculous,” Mr Jones said.<\/p>\n

“For young people, moving to the central west is awesome, it’s a great opportunity to see what else is out there \u2026 and get amongst the community.<\/p>\n

“Coming from Brisbane, there’s nothing like it back home, everyone looks out for each other, everyone is so inviting, and there’s always so much to do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kerry Duncan was living pay cheque to pay cheque, servicing a mortgage on her Townsville home, when she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,227324,99,227323,227325,194527,32643],"class_list":["post-435316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-barcaldine-housing-market","tag-business","tag-buying-in-barcaldine","tag-cheaper-living","tag-outback-housing","tag-western-queensland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}