Forget the housing crisis in our capital cities.
In a remote corner of Western Australia, a property paradox is unfolding that will make your jaw drop.
Welcome to Marble Bar, officially Australia’s hottest town, where the mercury regularly soars past 50 degrees Celsius, and homes can be snapped up for an astonishing average of just $150,000 – $730,000 less the average median house price.
But before you pack your bags and dream of an affordable slice of the Aussie outback, there’s a brutal reality check.
Summers here aren’t just “hot”; it’s a heat so intense it melts roads, drives away workers, and forces residents to adopt extreme survival tactics just to get through the day.
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Temperatures have soared in Australia’s hottest town this week with Marble Bar sweltering
Marble Bar is located in the Pilbara region, south of Port Hedland. Picture: Google Maps
It also means that the property market here isn’t just cheap, it’s a direct reflection of a life lived on the very edge of human endurance.
“This heat for this time of year is just a Tuesday for us,” Marble Bar Community Resource Centre manager Bazz Harris told the ABC, referring to the town’s recent 51C reading which scored it the title of word’s hottest place on earth earlier this week.
But for the 200-odd residents, a forecast of 45C or above is simply business as usual.
This isn’t a place for the faint-hearted, and the property market tells the story.
Homes are a rare commodity, with only one currently listed for sale on realestate.com.au. When they do appear, the price tag is a fraction of what you’d pay almost anywhere else in Australia – a stark indicator of the unique challenges of calling Marble Bar home.
So, what does that $110,000 buy you?
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Harold ‘’Bungarrow’’ Western cools down with a couple of coldies outside the iron-clad Hotel in Australia’s hottest town, Marble Bar. Picture: Tom Rovis-Hermann
A life of constant adaptation, for starters.
Locals have perfected the art of staying cool, from filling blow-up pools with 30 bags of ice (and sitting in them “butt naked,” as Mr Harris vividly recounts) to taking early morning showers before the “cold” tap turns warm.
Long-time resident John Mladenovich recently shared his own ingenious tips with the ABC, including wearing a wet towel over your head and neck, or a quick dash under the sprinkler (clothes on, he insists).
He even recalls a legendary “thunderbox” – a toilet in the Great Sandy Desert fitted with an automated mister that made you feel “almost like you were in aircon.”
Who needs a stove in Marble Bar? Picture: Facebook
Aerial view of Marble Bar which is home to around 200 people.
For hydration, his secret weapon is a homemade electrolyte brew:
“One orange, squeezed, a whole lemon and a teaspoon of baking soda – drink that, and you’ll feel refreshed.”
His ultimate advice for beating the sun? Sitting in the shade watching the cricket with a beverage in hand.
“One thousand per cent, you don’t feel the heat,” he said.
But the heat isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a force that shapes the very fabric of the town. “It’s hard to keep staff here,” Mr Harris admits in an interview with the Daily Mail.
“People come up and take jobs, and when they get those strings of 12–15 days of 40C-plus, then you quickly figure out who’s going to be hanging around and who’s going to go.”
At least there is cold beer.
Even the massive iron ore trucks, vital to the region’s economy, struggle.
“When the trucks are loaded with four trailers chock-full of iron ore, they actually melt the tar and dig the road up. It’s crazy to see that … the roads definitely do melt, that’s an actual thing.”
So, while a $110,000 house in Australia might sound like a dream, the reality of Marble Bar is a scorching testament to the power of climate.
It’s a town where property prices are dictated by the thermometer, and where survival is a daily art form.
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