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Mackay council offers more housing development incentives

Discounts for developers not a hand-out though, councillors say, rather a necessary move so other local councils don’t ‘steal our lunch’.

Only way for house prices to go is 'up': Falinksi

A bold plan to incentivise developers to build more units across Mackay will be capped at a half a million dollar discount on infrastructure.

With a rental vacancy rate of just 0.7 per cent and population growth predicted out to 2040, the council voted unanimously to raise the potential reduction in infrastructure charges for new unit-type housing developments to 50 per cent with a maximum amount of $500,000.

Before Wednesday’s vote, the council offered a concession capped at 25 per cent and $250,000.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said the new incentive was designed to reduce pressure on the region’s increasingly tight housing market.

“We probably have 1600 or 1700 jobs available everyday,” he said.

When people are interested in a job in Mackay, the first thing they do is look for somewhere to live.

“With a rental vacancy rate under 1 per cent, there’s nowhere to live.

“There’s certainly a lot of development going on in houses but it’s a lot of residents actually building new homes.

“So one of the areas we’re really looking at is affordable housing.”

Council confirmed the new policy would have no impact on rates or services.

Any reduced revenue due to the incentive will be managed as part of council’s budget process.

Speaking before the vote, Councillor Michelle Green said the lack of housing diversity plagued the region and more affordable housing was desperately needed.

Deputy Mayor Karen May and Councillors Russell Seymour and Justin Englert also spoke in favour of the new incentive.

Mrs May said the incentive was not a hand-out to developers but a necessary move to remain competitive with other local councils.

The council undertook a financial risk assessment for the new incentive structure and concluded it was sound.

“The key risk is in relation to the increase of the reduction in infrastructure charges from 25 per cent to 50 per cent and an increase in the maximum amount from $250,000 to $500,000 for each application,” the report reads.

“For the maximum reduction in charges to be realised by a single development, it would need to include approximately 33 new three-bedroom dwellings or 46, one or two bedroom dwellings.

“Although it is possible for there to be a number of applications proposed under the policy, it is highly unlikely that there would be several that reach the market simultaneously and realise the full charges reduction.”

The push for more housing diversity was included as an amendment to the council’s general development policy, called Facilitating Development in the Mackay Region.

The general policy, which is broken up into seven priority sections, was also reaffirmed at the meeting.

Mr Williamson emphasised that council incentives were necessary to pull investment into the region and keep ahead of other regional cities.

“If we don’t have one of these policies, Townsville, Cairns, Rocky, they’ll all steal our lunch,” he said.

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mackay/property/mackay-council-offers-more-housing-development-incentives/news-story/c95debaa86bd50f49c4d243e37864923