220 new subdivided blocks approved in past year

From Victory Heights, to Rainbow Beach, Chatsworth, Southside and Tamaree, landowners are slicing up their properties to accommodate a growing population and huge demand. We reveal the biggest of those subdivisions, and the people behind them:

More than 200 new blocks of land have been dropped into the pipeline of Gympie’s future property market as landowners continue slicing their properties up amid high demand and concerns about the long-term housing market.

Data from Gympie Regional Council’s online development hub reveals 66 larger parcels of land across the region were spliced up, adding another 220 lots to the market.

The two largest subdivisions to get the green light were a 64-lot project at Victory Heights and a 38-lot development at Rainbow Beach.

The Victory Heights project, about 1.1km northeast of the city, is being undertaken by Sunshine Coast-based Hillscorp Truground.

It will open up next to Fauna Rd, with block sizes ranging in size from 500m sq to about 830m sq.

More than 200 new blocks of land have been created across the Gympie region by way of subdivision in the past year, including several housing developments with dozens of new lots for future homes.

The subdivision will be the company’s first foray into Gympie following two decades of projects across Queensland.

The development, called Songbird, will add to the company’s portfolio, which already includes a 1300-lot development at Blacks Beach Breeze near Mackay, Bamboo Estate at Palmwoods, Essence Estate at Toowoomba, Nature’s Edge in Bahrs Scrub near Logan and Creekside Estate at Nambour.

On the coastline a controversial 38-lot subdivision by Dr Allan J Bond and Associates will be built on land once occupied by the Rainbow Beach golf course at the corner of Rainbow Shores Dr and Wyvern Rd.

Forty-three objections were lodged with the council over the project, which was approved by the planning department under delegation in November 2021.

Another 21-lot subdivision was approved at Heritage Lane at the Southside, although this plan will instead slice three blocks of land off an earlier proposal for the block.

Hillscorp developers Sharon Bowden and Alan Wheeler are making their first foray into the region after 20 years of housing developments across Queensland.

A 24-lot subdivision had been approved on the land in 2009.

Landowners Pam and Donald Pitt were given approval for the amended plan in June 2022.

Block sizes will range from 730m sq to 2742m sq.

The larger-sized lots will back onto flood-prone land, and the subdivision will be built in two stages.

While residential land was the main choice to be cut into new lots, 12 new blocks of industrial land will be opened up behind the heritage-listed Scottish Mine retort house near Lake Alford.

The dozen new lots, off Bas Lewis Dr and developed by ACS Australian Construction Services No.2, will vary in size from 300m sq to 10,000m sq in size.

The council received 69 applications to subdivide land across the year, approving 58.

The remaining 11 were lodged but ultimately either rejected or withdrawn.

More than half of the applications (34) were by landowners looking to split their properties into two.

The most popular area for subdivision applications across the year was directly north of the city with two dozen applications lodged across areas including Veteran, Chatsworth, and Tamaree.