Perfect spot to escape the city life

ONCE nothing more than open paddocks and a smattering of homes and farmsteads, Meringandan has grown significantly in the past five years with more estates opening the area to home-owners looking for a rural escape.

The town has a mixture of older established and newer houses with a variety of construction types from classic weatherboard to modern brick.

Meringandan features large residential allotments, making them ideal for families chasing a rural residential lifestyle.

There are two main parts to the town – Meringandan and Meringandan West.

Meringandan West has a median sales price of $427,500, which is an increase of 6.5 per cent on last year; Meringandan only recorded a small number of sales, so an accurate sales figure cannot be obtained.

All of the homes in Meringandan are free-standing with 99.5 per cent in Meringandan West and the remaining 0.5 per cent made up of units.

A little more than three-quarters (75.8 per cent) of homes in Meringandan are owned, either outright or with a mortgage – the remaining 24.2 per cent are rented.

In Meringandan West 88 per cent of homes are owned either outright or with a mortgage; 11.6 per cent of homes are rented and 0.5 per cent are otherwise occupied.

There is a hotel at Meringandan and a general store, service station and a school at Meringandan West.

The main recreational venue is the Cooby Creek dam, north of the town, which is one of Toowoomba’s principal water supplies.

Cooby Dam has two main recreation areas, Loveday Cove and the dam wall picnic area.

Loveday Cove offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy a host of land and aquatic pursuits.

Cooby Dam wall picnic area offers walking tracks, shelters and free gas barbecue facilities (with no water access for boating) – it is a picnic area only.

Sometimes, these facilities are closed to the public. When this closure does happen, the road access gate will be closed at the end of Pipeline Road.

There is also a new playground in Tom Volp Park.

With a population of about 1600 people, neighbouring Kleinton has seen a drop in value since last year, with houses dipping 1.7 per cent to a median sales price of $516,250.