Australia’s Cheapest Houses

Australia's house prices are yet to collapse to levels being seen overseas but the words "cheap" and "bargain" are beginning to be applied to less that $500,000 properties!

So where can you expect to find the most affordable housing in Australia - well in a word, in the bush - small agricultural towns or mining towns where the boom went bust.

Western Australia's Cheapest Real Estate

Norseman is a pleasant mining town with a population of approximately 800 people, its around 200 km south of Kalgoorlie and 200km north of Esperance on the coast. You won't find any big city night life but its a tidy town with a pleasant town centre and all the basic shops.  It currently is the headline cheapest town in WA because of a 3-bedroom fibrolite home listed for $65,000 - the owners not sad - she bought for $8000 in 2001! Just be warned though that the price may well be worth about $8000 in another 8 years - Norseman is a Nickle mining town, and unlike its gold-mining cousin up the road at Kalgoorlie, the price of Nickle has gone thru the floor along with the demand for stainless steel.

Norseman's Town Center

Cheapest Property in NSW

According to realestate.com.au the cheapest town in NSW is Trangie in the NW, about 70km from Dubbo. Currently listed is a 3-bedroom "doer-upper" for $78,000

Cheapest Property in Victoria

The charmingly named town of Rainbow is near the South Australian border - 90-odd kilometers north of Victoria's ski center of Horsham. There are period 3-bedroom with original kitchen, pressed metal ceilings and a/c but lacking some paint is n the market for a negotiable $66,000

Cheapest Property in Queensland

The sunshine state doesn't really do cheap - that is until you remember there is a lot, lot more of Queensland once you leave the coastal strip behind. Quilpie lies 195km west of Charleville (think the Never-Never or back of Bourke - nice people though) - has a median price of just $46,000 and you can buy a 2 bedroom tidy, stumped (raised above ground level important in the land of termites) on a 1024 m2 block for around $65,000.

Cheapest Coastal Living in Australia

We all know that its expensive to live on the coast in Australia- its the ultimate beach culture after all. But you don't have to pay the median price of $4.4 million in  Tamarama, Sydney. No further west in West Port Pirie, South Australia you will pick up a bargain where the median house price is just $140,000. OK Port Pirie is the port for the ore from Broken Hill - but its beach side to the beautiful Spencer Gulf - which offers a rare thing in Australia - flat water - no surf here! Its only a few hundred kilometers north of Adelaide and even closer to the Clare and Barossa wine regions.

Spencer Gulf, South Australia

Other cheap options for beach side living are Loch Sport, Vic; Corrindi Beach NSW; Beechford, Tas; Halifax, Qlds and Withers in Bunbury, WA.

So there are bargains, and you can buy property for leass than 6 figures in Australia. There are a couple of caveats - don't expect to find employment in any of these towns  -bring your own income or have a portable job. And don't expect the prices to be rising any time soon.

Photo Credit: Outback Travel Photos