Brisbane set to do it by halves with explosion in subdivisions

A BRISBANE property trend set to accelerate in coming years will forever change the city’s way of life.

BRISBANE’S back yards will start shrinking at a faster rate than ever before as subdivisions take off in popularity, according to a property analyst.

Council figures show the rate of splitting residential blocks in two has been steady, with about 130 approved each year for the past five years.

But property market analyst Michael Matusik said that was about to change, and splits would number in the “thousands, not hundreds” in coming years.

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Mr Matusik said it was due to the growing number of empty-nesters wanting to stay living in the suburbs, rather than downsize to units, as well as growing families looking for affordability closer to the city.

“The attraction of the big back yard isn’t what it used to be … it’s about proximity, it’s the lifestyle,” Mr Matusik said.

“People like the style of a Queenslander house, but it may need to be on a smaller block for it to be affordable.”

The most popular suburb in Brisbane for subdivisions in the past five years was Salisbury, with 44 applications, followed by Coopers Plains with 27 applications.

Brisbane City Council neighbourhood planning chairwoman Cr Amanda Cooper said the new City Plan, endorsed earlier this year, would be able to protect the back yard while allowing development as it tried to encourage a variety of block sizes and housing ranges.

“City Plan 2014 is more specific than the former City Plan about where small lots can be located, what lot dimensions are and how lots should fit into their surrounding area,” she said.

Blocks in Brisbane can be as small 180sq m after subdivision if they are in a low to medium-density residential area and zoned for up to three storeys, while in other areas the minimum lot size varies from 300sq m to 450sq m in residential zones and 10,000sq m in rural residential.

Property developer Henry Vecchio has been working in the Bulimba-Balmoral-Hawthorne area since 1996, subdividing four or five blocks a year.

In most cases, he chooses a property with a Queenslander on it then moves the home to one side of the block and builds a new home on the other.

Past clients Darren Pearce and Phillipa Hinz live next door to each other in Hawthorne, on each half of what was once a single block.

Mr Pearce said subdivisions and closer living was inevitable.

“It’s got to happen,” he said. “It’s good to have little pockets where there is space as well but we’ve got a good little community here.”

Mrs Hinz said it created a good downsizing option.

“It’s enabled us to have five bedrooms, and enough separate spaces for us all, on a small block,” she said.

“I think it’s been happening for as long as we’ve been in the area, coming up 20 years.”