Market Pressure Review: Rockhampton in 10 Charts

Rockhampton: The Beef Capital of Australia

Rockhampton is a vibrant regional city in Queensland located alongside the Fitzroy River. The city is renowned as the “Beef Capital of Australia” due to its prominent cattle industry and hosting national beef expos. Beyond its agricultural heritage, Rockhampton embraces a rich history, a lively local culture, and stunning natural beauty with highlights like the Capricorn Caves, Mount Archer National Park, and the Fitzroy River. With its growing and diverse economy, vibrant community, and affordable housing, Rockhampton has become an increasingly popular destination for buyers in recent years.

Since 2021, Rockhampton’s house prices have sped up. It achieved 19% growth over the last 12 months. Will this growing rate continue in the coming year? Join us today to explore the city’s current property market conditions and outlook!

As of November 2024, Rockhampton’s House Market Pressure is high.

Among the six metrics InvestorKit uses to measure market performance, Rockhampton scores the highest (=5) in all aspects.

Demographic & Economic Trends of Rockhampton

Rockhampton’s population growth rate began to fall sharply in 2013 and hit rock bottom in 2016 with a -0.28% annual growth. The primary cause of this trend was the indirect effects of the mining downturn in the nearby area – Bowen Basin – between 2012 and 2016.

After that challenging period, Rockhampton’s population growth started to improve in 2017, driven by the recovery of the local economy and the pandemic-driven “exodus to lifestyle and affordability”, contributing to a rise in internal and overseas migration. 

Rockhampton’s population growth rate was 1.4% in FY 2022-23. While this is slightly lower than the previous 12 months, it is still at a relatively healthy growth rate. 

Accelerating population growth and migration surges are expected to drive an increase in housing demand in Rockhampton over the coming years.

Rockhampton’s unemployment rate had been dropping gradually before increasing in early 2023; however, even with the increase, it is still at a much lower level than a decade ago. Since early 2024, Rockhampton has seen signs of a decline in the unemployment rate.

On the other hand, despite a slight drop compared to the last 12 months, the number of job vacancies is still much higher (by approximately 50%) than the pre-pandemic average. 

Both indicators show that Rockhampton’s job market is more active than ever, and the local economy is thriving.

Rockhampton Real Estate Market Trends: Sales Market

Rockhampton’s house market has grown enormously over the past year. The current median house price is $503k, about 19% higher than a year ago.

At the same time, the sale days on market declined significantly (down by 24% over the last 12 months) and has stabilised since August 2024. This trend suggests growing demand, pointing to the potential for healthy price growth ahead.

Why are houses in Rockhampton selling faster these days?

Over the past 12 months, Rockhampton’s number of for-sale house listings has fallen remarkably while the sale volume has remained stable. This declining trend contributed to a sharp drop in inventory between 2023 and March 2024 to an extremely low level of 1.6 months of stock. Afterwards, inventory has remained at this low level for several months.

The low inventory level implies that market pressure in Rockhampton has increased significantly, resulting in a shorter time to sell.

With Rockhampton’s population accelerating, will there be a massive incoming housing supply to cater for the growing demands?

Rockhampton’s building approval rate has remained at a relatively low level for a decade, indicating a low risk of oversupply in the housing market. In 2024, the region saw a slight uptick in house construction activity, but it’s not a huge concern as its building approvals are still much lower than the balanced benchmark of 2%. Rockhampton’s low building approval rate is a good sign for continued value growth.

Rockhampton’s house price growth accelerated in 2021 but only increased by 53% over the last ten years, nearly half the average of 50 top-populated regional cities. This moderate 10-year growth implies that Rockhampton is at an early growth cycle stage; thus, there is more room for strong upside potential.

Rockhampton’s Real Estate Market Trends: Rental Market

Rockhampton’s rental market is under high pressure. The vacancy rate is at a low level of around 0.7%. However, rent has grown relatively slowly at 4.2% over the last 12 months. The slow rental growth could be caused by the affordability ceiling. However, we still expect more growth in the coming year due to the high rental market pressure.

Rockhampton enjoys a high rental yield of 5.9%, higher than the average of the top-populated cities. Since sales prices have grown considerably faster than rental prices, yields have decreased since early 2024. We expect this declining trend to continue as sales prices continue to outperform.

Over the past decade, Rockhampton’s rental prices have grown by 56%, lower than the average growth rate of the top-populated regional cities. We expect this to increase further, considering the region’s increasing housing demand driven by the thriving economy, many job opportunities, and high rental market pressure.

Rockhampton Property Growth in the Coming 6-12 Months…

Rockhampton’s house market is currently under high pressure, with prices rising sharply due to low inventory and short days on the market. At the same time, the rental vacancy rate remains extremely low. In the coming 6-12 months, we expect Rockhampton’s house prices to continue to grow strongly, driven by sustained market pressure, moderate 10-year growth, and good affordability.

Rockhampton is the 9th regional city we examine in this Market Pressure Review Blog Series. Stay tuned for more cities to follow! InvestorKit is a data-driven buyers’ agency that chooses purchasing locations through a sophisticated market pressure analysis system. This methodology has enabled our clients to achieve growth higher than the average and expedite their investment journey. Interested in learning more about InvestorKit’s research and services? Talk to us today by clicking here and requesting your 15-min FREE discovery call!