Home approvals falling
THE Gold Coast could be missing out on a wave of cashed-up interstate migrants due to severe constraints on the supply of greenfield development sites.
It comes as statistics show home approvals on the Coast are starting to dry up, while neighbouring Logan is experiencing a boom.
According to data supplied by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2416 homes were approved on the Gold Coast in the 11 months to May 2018, a rate of about 220 a month.
In the previous financial year there were 3553 homes approved, or 296 a month, representing a drop of about 25 per cent.
By comparison Logan had 1701 new homes approved in 2016-2017, a number the city had easily outstripped in the 11 months to May 2018 with 2274 new homes approved.
REIQ Gold Coast chair Andrew Henderson said a lack of land supply in growth areas was contributing to the problem.
“We have heard that builders are even finding it hard to get land to build display homes on and show off their product,” he said.
Choice Homes marketing manager Ben Peasley said it was a challenging environment
for his company and its competitors.
“We took a long look at the Gold Coast market after the city was awarded the Commonwealth Games and with that long-term vision in mind we secured the land we thought we would need for 5-7 years.
“We ran out of that land in four years.”
Mr Peasley said the company was seeing a lot of migrants moving to the Coast from Sydney.
“The average house sale price there is now more than $1 million so they are coming to the Coast where we can build them a house on land for under $500,000.
“So many of them are actually moving from a two-bedroom unit to a four-bedroom house, which is a very attractive move.” He said if the supply situation was not addressed not only would prices on the Coast increase but developers and home builders would start using greenfield sites closer to Brisbane.
“The value is coming from the northern corridor and when you look there Logan has a fair amount of land available.
“So what will happen is that the Gold Coast will miss out.
“We are already seeing more northern migration to housing developments in Logan and Beenleigh.”