Whether you are looking at a managed fund for shares or wanting to explore a full range of investment options, such as property, resorts or new business ventures, Australia is rated internationally as a desirable investment destination.

One of the local concerns is that when new immigrants arrive in Australia with more than $500,000 at first they can feel rich. An exaggerated confidence and a fierce independent streak like anywhere can lead to poor investment choices and even loss of capital, rather than a continuation of accumulating wealth.

New to investing or experienced, it is still worth having a general chat to a local financial advisor. When you’re calculating the cost of living and are comfortable with the idea of a move to Australia it’s the good time to sort out the details of your current investments in advance to departure. Will your house be rented or sold? how will this effect your tax bill here and in your country of origin? Will you leave your investment portfolio set up overseas? Will you add Australian investments to what you are already building? Ask questions in advance of your departure/arrival and start a financial plan. www.aussiemigrant.com are local financial planners and advisors who are experienced with new immigrants.

Investing in The Tourism Boom

Whether looking to invest in a principal home, a unit or second property to lease out or a commercial property it is worth looking at smaller locations around the state as well as Surfers Paradise, The Sunshine Coast, Noosa and Byron Bay.

Take Port Douglas as an example of an investors paradise. The original Port for the northern gold fields in Queensland, in 1980 took on a new identity. Once it was a sleepy fishing village surrounded by sugar cane, now is Resort Paradise, has a thriving costal community and is considered Queenslands answer to St Tropez (French Riviera). See www.pddt.com.au for an overview or the region.

This town in the tropical north, started with one resort The Sheraton Mirage Hotel. Now there is a range of accommodation from the deluxe resorts to the very affordable cabins. Having a reputation as a chic and sophisticated well designed and preserved holiday destination it attracts investors as well as tourists and it is easy to see why.

According to the National Visitors Survey, the tropical north has the highest growth in the state for attracting domestic travellers, in the past two years. This is in addition to the 2 million international visitors. Numerous undiscovered tropical locations still sit beside the Daintree rainforests and along the coast of the Great Barrier Reef.

Developers flock to the town and surrounding areas seeking to discover a new site for a new resort or housing estate. Alongside the luxury leisure development sites, farmers are selling up land surrounding their depleting sugar cane crops assisting in giving Port Douglas a property and land boom. From holiday units to family homes, whether to build in known locations or areas on their way up and still yet to peak, there are possibilities and potential to cash in on the tourism boom and residential growth.

Researching an Investment

There are many opportunities to purchase an apartment which is part of a resort complex for you to use as a holiday home yourself and then lease it out the rest of the year. An example of this kind of deal is at: www.bale.com.au. There are many more investment opportunities like this one, throughout Australia.

The advantage of purchasing within a resort style complex is that the company behind the construction has a marketing or sales team that will take on the organization and management of the pricing, selling and leasing of the holiday home/unit for you. You invest the capital and they organise the holiday tenants.

With this there are often detailed contracts and many clauses. For example, some companies will allow you to use your holiday apartment when you choose, others prefer to limit access to out of season. Allowing them to lease in peak times may financially be to your advantage, it may not be what you had in mind. Not all companies will allow you to lease at reduced rates to friends and family and all have their own margins relating to the size of the site and standards and this s reflected in their fees, how they lease your apartment and what they aim to gain for you over a year.

When investing in an apartment in a resort or larger complex (from basic to boutique), there are purchasing package deals. These packages assist the developers in achieving the vision for the resort or complex and you, the investor with the purchasing and getting the unit ready for leasing.

Alternatively to purchasing an apartment or unit there is the simple land deal option. What you will need to ascertain amongst many details is whether you will need to build within a set time and if the property has to be built to a set value or not. Many purchase sites have to be built on as part of a development area and carry a style and standard specification.

For more ideas of the type of building that is happening here in Queensland, have a look at the portfolio of a local building company: www.matrixpm.com.au