Gold Coast property market: Fears city will fall further behind housing targets as housing ‘teeters’
Nearly 60 per cent of all Gold Coast units earmarked for completion within three years are at risk of being delayed or abandoned entirely, a shock report on the housing sector reveals.
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Nearly 60 per cent of all Gold Coast units earmarked for completion within three years are at risk of being delayed or abandoned entirely, a shock report on the housing sector reveals.
The report, by the Property Council of Australia and consulting firm Urbis, was unveiled on Friday and warns the Gold Coast is falling further and further behind state-set housing targets.
Property Council state executive director Jess Caire said there was “significant doubt over the Gold Coast’s ability to meet the housing targets set out by the Southeast Queensland Regional Plan (SEQRP).
“Under the SEQRP the Gold Coast is expected to deliver around 5643 attached dwellings annually from 2021 to 2031, and 5924 annually from 2031 to 2046 (but) less than a third of this target has been achieved each year since 2019,” she wrote.
“While the Gold Coast has been somewhat insulated from the headwinds facing the broader Southeast Queensland market in part due to the premium, beachfront properties with fewer feasibility barriers the outlook for future supply is far from certain.
“With a population projected to reach 1.13 million by 2046, it is concerning that 58 per cent of apartments due for completion in 2027-2028 are considered moderate or high risk of delay or withdrawal.”
Ms Cair named four key steps to addressing the city’s housing crisis, saying the city needed to “course correct and deliver housing diversity and scale”.
She said it was “imperative to unleash every possible solution to deliver more homes sooner”.
The proposed steps include:
* Restore our competitive edge by evening the playing field for Australian-based developers.
* Include an annual commitment beyond the Residential Activation Fund (RAF) in the State Government budget to unlock infrastructure.
* Leverage the upcoming review of the regional plans to ensure we embed the practice of co-ordinating planning and infrastructure delivery.
* Incentivise local government to pull all available levers to fast-track supply including fast tracking planning changes and providing infrastructure charges relief for critical projects.
The report also warned the city needed to do better in encouraging more build to rent (BTR) projects, saying the sector was “teetering”.
“Since the completion of the Smith Collective in Southport in 2018 new BTR supply has remained stagnant,” Ms Cair wrote.
“With 1700 BTR apartments approved but not yet delivered, now is the time to review the impediments to BTR development.”
It comes amid pushes from both Gold Coast City Council and the private sector to unlock more housing, supercharge the building sector and reduce pressure on the market
Deputy Premier and State Development Minister Jarrod Bleijie said this week he was working with the council to address the housing situation.
“The Crisafulli Government is resetting the planning partnership with councils and communities to fix Labor’s housing crisis, by ensuring new housing opportunities are locally informed and deliver more Queenslanders with a place to call home,” he said
“Unlike Labor, who failed to plan for growth and ignored councils and communities, the Crisafulli Government is delivering a fresh start with local governments in updating all regional plans across Queensland to support more housing for Queenslanders.”
However, with a new City Plan still at least two years away, developers and city leaders including Mayor Tom Tate say other measures must be taken soon to unlock housing.
The Bulletin on Thursday revealed a group of developers and landowners were lobbying to be allowed to build larger towers on the Mermaid Beach and Miami stretch of the light rail.
With the Gold Coast falling behind on its housing targets, they argue political leaders are “using traffic, carpark and infrastructure challenges as an excuse to stymie development”, and warn the Gold Coast will “become more unaffordable than Sydney within a decade unless they change policy.”
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