Long-time Townsville residents sometimes fondly refer to their hometown as the “Queen City of the North”, which it is, in a way, being the most populous Australian city north of the Tropic of Capricorn, with around 170,000 residents compared with Cairns’s 164,000 and Darwin’s 125,000. Residents of the Queen City must be very happy to read all the good economic news relating to their city that has been appearing recently.

For instance, there is an informative article in today’s Australian Financial Review (3 May, p. 45) by Ruth Liew, who notes:

From the Pilbara in Western Australia to Townsville in Queensland, strong yields and population growth give investors new reasons to invest in regional Australia.

The key to picking top regional investment spots was to identify areas with sustained employment growth, said investment management consulting firm Atchison Consultants’ managing director Ken Atchinson.

“[Employment growth] will be resources based, agriculture based and it could be transport based,” Mr Atchison said.

Karratha in WA and Townsville in Queensland are among his top picks, due to the mining boom and increase in the number of Defence Force personnel respectively.

In other positive economic news for Townsville (Housing hotspots):

TOWNSVILLE’s Condon, Rasmussen and Bohle Basin has again been placed among Australia’s fastest growing Statistical Local Areas although the area slipped a place on last year’s rankings.

In the longer-term, the Townsville region is expected to be the beneficiary of the discovery of new resource deposits (Site potential):

MAJOR copper resources with the potential to boost northern Queensland’s economy lie waiting to be discovered in its backlands, according to a new study commissioned by Townsville Enterprise.

The study, North East Minerals Province Economic Potential was prepared by James Cook University researchers and says that, of all the province’s prospective resources, copper has the highest likelihood of discovery.

It identifies 21 sites in the province, the area bounded by Cairns, Proserpine and Hughenden, as having the potential for new zinc, gold, copper, magnetite (iron oxide), and nickel mining.

With great economic prospects, and a population expected to grow to around 270,000 by 2031 (see Future population trends), Townsville could prove to be a major driver of Queensland’s economy in the years to come.