Port Hedland Australia's iron ore boom town - Aussiehome
Port Hedland Australia's iron ore boom town - Aussiehome
Port Hedland Australia's iron ore boom town - Aussiehome
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Hot spot | port hedland<br />
building prohibits construction in areas<br />
that may be subject to flooding on a<br />
10 years-plus basis.<br />
This safety limitation on residential<br />
land will not change, meaning that<br />
the only real way to increase housing<br />
supply in <strong>town</strong> is to increase the<br />
density of housing. Consequently,<br />
it is likely that housing pressures will<br />
not substantially abate for some time –<br />
if ever.<br />
Dramatic fly in/fly out increase<br />
An additional element to the housing<br />
<strong>boom</strong> in <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong> has been the<br />
dramatic increase in the number of<br />
passengers at the <strong>town</strong>’s airport, which<br />
has rocketed from 70,000 in 2003 to<br />
210,000 in 2009 (a rise of 200%).<br />
This has been driven in part by a<br />
large increase in the size of the FIFO<br />
workforce associated with the <strong>town</strong>’s<br />
expanding port facilities and mining<br />
services companies that support the<br />
Pilbara mines.<br />
Living in private rentals, companyhired<br />
residential properties and short<br />
stay accommodation (eg, hotels and<br />
caravan parks), these workers have been<br />
the ‘icing on the cake’ that has supercharged<br />
the property market – given<br />
that virtually all of them are on very<br />
Table 1: <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong> civic projects<br />
Project Proponent Value Project Proponent Value<br />
Road and bridge<br />
works<br />
<strong>Hedland</strong> Regional<br />
Hospital Centre<br />
Marina and Retail<br />
Precinct development<br />
Road and bridge<br />
works<br />
Multi-purpose<br />
Recreational Centre<br />
South <strong>Hedland</strong> <strong>town</strong><br />
centre revitalisation<br />
Public amenity<br />
enhancement<br />
South <strong>Hedland</strong><br />
Community Centre<br />
<strong>Hedland</strong> Senior High<br />
School upgrade<br />
Finucane Island<br />
Community Function<br />
Centre<br />
JD Hardie Youth<br />
Precinct<br />
Federal<br />
Gov<br />
high incomes.<br />
Often they are also crammed into<br />
accommodation, with three, four or<br />
even six workers per house, operating a<br />
‘hot’ bed system where one worker ‘flies<br />
out’ and cleaners replace the bed sheets<br />
for the next worker who then ‘flies in’.<br />
This FIFO phenomenon is not unique<br />
to <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong>. According to the Pilbara<br />
Development Commission, at least 18,000<br />
of the 30,000 workers in the Pilbara<br />
mining industry are FIFO workers.<br />
The Town of <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong> Authority<br />
$160m Managed<br />
accommodation for<br />
visitors<br />
Doric Ltd $138m Marquee Park community<br />
facilities<br />
WA Gov/<br />
T of PH<br />
is predicting the strong trend in<br />
passenger growth will continue,<br />
with numbers potentially rising<br />
another 60,000 in 2010 to a whopping<br />
270,000 passengers.<br />
Pilbara Cities Blueprint<br />
In November 2009, the Premier of<br />
Western Australia Colin Barnett<br />
announced the Pilbara Cities Blueprint,<br />
which would create “vibrant, major<br />
cities” in the <strong>iron</strong> <strong>ore</strong> ports and <strong>town</strong>s<br />
of <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong>, Karratha, Dampier,<br />
Newman, Tom Price and Onslow.<br />
Focusing on the two superinfrastructure<br />
<strong>town</strong>s of <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong><br />
and Karratha, the blueprint would<br />
provide “new schools and TAFEs;<br />
hospitals and medical centres; leisure<br />
and entertainment facilities; shopping<br />
and retail precincts”, and also seek<br />
to increase the <strong>town</strong>’s level of<br />
housing density.<br />
Premier Barnett said that “the<br />
government’s vision is to create a<br />
place that people choose to settle on a<br />
permanent basis, a place to bring up<br />
families with access to high standards<br />
of education, health and diverse<br />
employment and career opportunities”.<br />
Now, for any property investors this<br />
type of talk is exciting – revitalisation<br />
22 www.yipmag.com.au<br />
$69.8m<br />
Cemetery Beach and<br />
Koomba Park facilities<br />
WA Gov $40m Crime prevention and<br />
safety initiatives<br />
WA Gov/<br />
T of PH<br />
T of PH<br />
$8.5m<br />
WA Gov/ $8.2m<br />
BHP Billiton<br />
WA Gov $6m<br />
T of PH<br />
$5.3m<br />
$35.3m Town cycle plan T of PH $5.1m<br />
Landcorp $23m <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong> GP housing<br />
project<br />
T of PH $9.6m Iconoic Family Park<br />
(Stage 2)<br />
T of PH $9.5m Park improvement<br />
program<br />
WA Gov $9m South <strong>Hedland</strong> Bowling<br />
and Tennis Club<br />
development<br />
T of PH $9m McGregor Street precinct<br />
redevelopment<br />
T of PH/<br />
BHP Billiton<br />
Chart 6: <strong>Port</strong> <strong>Hedland</strong> annual growth in median house values<br />
40%<br />
35%<br />
30%<br />
20%<br />
15%<br />
10%<br />
5%<br />
0<br />
BHPB project<br />
FMG project<br />
$575m RGP 2<br />
approved<br />
$111m RGP 1<br />
approved<br />
$30m accelerated<br />
expansion approved<br />
$564m Area C & PACE<br />
expansion approved<br />
Source: Residex, BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group<br />
$8.7m<br />
West End cultural precinct<br />
artistic landscaping<br />
T of PH<br />
T of PH<br />
T of PH<br />
T of PH<br />
$4.5m<br />
$3.7m<br />
$2.8m<br />
$2.4m<br />
T of PH $2m<br />
T of PH<br />
$1.6m<br />
Total $562m<br />
$2,600m RGP 4<br />
approved<br />
$1,529m RGP 3<br />
approved<br />
$3,100m Cloudbreak<br />
Mine, Rail and <strong>Port</strong><br />
Facilities approved<br />
$3,850m Chichester<br />
mine approved<br />
$6,800m RGP 5<br />
approved<br />
$2,000m in early<br />
works for RGP 6<br />
approved<br />
$650m Chichester Hub<br />
55 expansion approved<br />
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