Port Hedland Australia's iron ore boom town - Aussiehome

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