Cooktown Real Estate: Ad urges investors to take advantage of rural Queensland’s housing shortage

A property ad urging investors to take advantage of the housing crisis in rural Australia has infuriated people struggling to find housing as prices soar.

Cooktown Real Estate listed the three-bedroom home in the far north Queensland town for $520,000 – but it was the property’s description that caused trouble.

“Take advantage of Cooktown’s housing shortage and buy this excellent (sic) rental investment,” the ad reads.

‘This contemporary home is in a central location with an existing government tenant.

‘Given the limited number of properties for sale and the severe rental shortage, well-built homes are in demand.’

The ad then lists the house’s features, including its “rugged plaster concrete.”

An advertisement (above) by Cooktown Real Estate for a $520,000 home encourages investors to take advantage of the rural community’s housing shortage

The listing was leaked to Reddit, where users said they were struggling to find a home because of “astronomical” prices.

Cooktown is about 330 km north of Cairns and about 80 km from the main road to the tip of Cape York.

With fewer than 3,000 residents, many commentators said houses should be cheap and plentiful.

“I’m shocked they have houses that cost $520,000 to be honest. Not the kind of place you wouldn’t even buy a cabin from!’ one person wrote.

“Cooktown is in the middle of nowhere, I would have thought there would be an oversupply of rental housing because nobody wants to live there,” said another commenter.

A third wrote: “520,000 in Cooktown tell ’em they’re dreaming.”

Many commenters under a post calling out the ad said they don’t understand how the home (above) could be worth $520,000

Locals said a shortage of housing in the area is driving the housing market at “astronomical” prices (pictured the $520,000 home in Cooktown).

Other commenters called out the real estate agency for their thoughtless ad.

“Real estate people are vile and this person obviously can’t even spell,” said one.

“Trying to find a house or even a friggin’ rental in Australia could actually kill me,” said another person.

A third commenter wrote “F**king scumbags,” while another added, “Some might say scum of the earth.”

However, at least one commenter happily defended the agent, writing: “At this stage we need to stop attacking real estate agents.

“I can’t stand real estate practices but to be honest this isn’t really one of the crappy ones.

“They are not a charity, everyone knows what’s going on with the housing market, it would be crazy not to use it to sell houses.”

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Cooktown Real Estate for comment.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk