Housing project starts

Construction of 58 lots at Earlville site

CONSTRUCTION of 58 new housing lots has started at Earlville’s new Enclave precinct with the residential land scheduled for release in the next few months.

Enclave development manager Tim Bycroft said he expected the land to become a sought-after commodity for its location about 7km from the Cairns city centre.

“Enclave’s prime position makes it extremely appealing to those who seek easy connections to nearby amenities, including shops, schools and entertainment,” he said.

Enclave is being developed by Urbex, a subsidiary of North Queensland-based property and construction company BMD Group which has worked on local infrastructure projects including the Bruce Highway stage two upgrade in Cairns and upgrades to the Cattle and Frances Creek bridges.

The company has not released its pricing for the residential lots which range from 458 sqm to 830 sqm according to a plan published online.

Mr Bycroft said there was a lot happening in Cairns and buyer confidence was high.

“There are multiple new developments under way including a $475m investment in three renewable energy projects, a $120m port expansion, three new five-star hotels and a $650m eco resort,” he said.

“These developments are leading to increasing employment rates. In the last two years alone we have seen Cairns employment grow by 11.2 per cent. This is well above the Queensland average of 3.4 per cent.”

“The combination of these two things is making property purchases a hot commodity in the region right now,” Mr Bycroft said.

The Queensland Government’s $20,000 grant for first homeowners to build a new home is scheduled to fall back to $15,000 for contracts signed after June 30.

Master Builders Queensland wants the $20,000 first homeowners’ grant, which only applies to new homes and major renovations, extended by a further six months to the end of 2018.

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