Chinchilla is a town in regional Queensland that has seen some action of late, action of a good kind with huge growth and interest from investors and action of a not-so-good kind, having been well and truly inundated in the 2011 floods in Queensland.

With a population of 5487 people, according to the 2011 Census data, Chinchilla is well placed to reap the benefits of the many resources projects planned and underway in the Surat Basin area of Queensland.

The Surat Basin is a geological area extending from Southern Queensland into Northern New South Wales. It is a region rich in natural resources and has an abundance of projects planned as well as projects underway. The projects are related to Coal Seam Gas production, Liquified Natural Gas and Coal Mining.

Chinchilla is positioned 292 km to the North West of Brisbane, 165km North West of Toowoomba and has Roma 187km to its West. It serves as a centre for health, educational and social facilities for a large number of people in the wider region, having hospital, several schools and a TAFE campus, a cinema and cultural centre.

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With the Kogan Creek Power Station project approved back in 2004, Chinchilla has already seen a ‘boom’ of some proportion; however with over 8.9 billion dollars of approved projects in the region, Chinchilla is now growing again. These projects are expected to bring over 7000 workers to the area. Now you can see why investors have been taking note of Chinchilla!

The Numbers

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The People

Chinchilla population.001Let’s take a look now at the demographics of Chinchilla, QLD. The figures you will find here were taken from the Chinchilla State Suburb data from the 2011 Census except for occupation and industry of employment where we gathered the data from the 2006 Chinchilla Statistical Local Area report.

Population Age

The median age of people in Chinchilla was 34 years old. 23.5% of the population were children aged 0-14 years.chinchilla age

Marital Status

A little over half of the population here were married while 13% were divorced or widowed.
Education

In Chinchilla 27% of people were attending an educational institution; students were in primary school; 37% in primary school, whilst nearly 4% were at university.

Chinchilla country of birthCountry of Birth

In Chinchilla, 86% of people were born in Australia. Most common countries following Australia were New Zealand (2%), England (1.4%), and Philippines (.7%).

Occupation

Technicians and Trades Workers and Labourers make up most of the workforce in Chinchilla with 33.6% in this position. Chinchilla industry
Industry of Employment

School education is the top industry in Chinchilla, with other major industries being oil and gas extraction, residential building and construction and accommodation.

Family Composition

In Chinchilla, QLD, 44% of couples have children while 42% has none.

Type of House

Compared to the national and state-based figures, 90% of dwellings in Chinchilla are separate houses. The rest are flat unit or apartments (5.8%).

Home ownership

The proportion of people who own a home and those who rent is almost the same in Chinchilla; with those renting only slightly higher at 34.8% compared to those who own a home (33.1%).

Mortgage and Rental Payments

The median rent in Chinchilla, QLD was $280 and median mortgage repayments were $1517—lower compared with the state average.

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Facilities

Franchise test.001Chinchilla has a small airport located 5km to the West of town geared toward private and charter aircraft. There is an aquatic centre and gym, a cinema and a cultural centre. There is a Coles and a Woolworths supermarket and even a McDonalds and KFC. Chinchilla Health Service provides 40 beds across a range of aged care and acute care services.

Property in Chinchilla

Chinchilla is a hive of building activity and there are many investment companies and development companies who have jumped in and are offering house and land packages to investors from around $400k for a four-bedroom home at the time of writing.

There is also the older style homes of Chinchilla starting around the mid $200k mark and working their way up from there and there are also quite a few newer units and duplexes starting around $300k for a two-bedroom unit.
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Many of the older style properties are on large blocks and have potential for development in some way.

Summary

Investing in a mining location such as Chinchilla does have risk associated. There is the risk of projects being dropped or down-scaled and investors facing vacancies and little or no growth in their investments. On the up side, though, for many investors mining town locations provide a great positive cashflow investment and capital growth as well.

When assessing a mining town location, it’s good to do your research and ensure the location in which you plan to invest has multiple projects supporting it and has a reasonable project lifespan and the approved funds to go ahead. Chinchilla has these things, is still reasonably priced and is well worth a look.