SQM Research sent its free weekly newsletter last night, which contained an interesting primer on the property crash underway across Australia’s mining towns.
This week, we’re taking a look at mining towns after a house in the mining town of Port Hedland passed in at auction for $360,000 on the weekend. That same house was reportedly bought four years ago for $1.3 million. It’s a very sobering result and it could be a sign of worse to come in the Pilbara region if the iron ore price keeps dropping given burgeoning global supply.
The modest 1960s fibro home on a 600-sqm block failed to attract buyers, with the Port Hedland property market especially vulnerable to the commodities downturn as it is one of the world’s biggest iron ore loading ports. The plunge in the iron ore price and slowing Chinese economy has stifled mining activity and stymied demand for property in Port Headland and other mining towns around the nation.
