Home prices in Australian mining towns slump

Sydney

IN Blackwater, a town of 5,000 people in 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 (S$648,380) for houses three years ago are cutting their losses and dumping them back on the market.

"In a growing market there's opportunities and in a declining market there's opportunities," Mr Eising said, as tenants previously priced out of ownership now re-appear as buyers of properties advertised for as little a…