Pursuits
Mine Bust Halves Australia Outback Home Prices as Jobs Fade
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In Blackwater, a town of 5,000 amid the high-plains country of Australia’s Queensland state, the shockwaves from China’s slowdown are good business for Gerard Eising.
The sales consultant with Blackwater Real Estate moved to the region seven months ago to take advantage of local home prices more than halving in two years. With slumping demand from Chinese steel mills causing BHP Billiton Ltd. to cut jobs at its Blackwater coal mine south of the town, investors who paid as much as A$620,000 ($479,000) for houses three years ago are cutting their losses and dumping them back on the market.