Lismore, Byron, Ballina: How development has changed the NSW North Coast

Aerial photographs reveal just how much Byron Bay and the rest of the North Coast has been changed by a decade of development. See the pictures.

North Coast natives don’t need to be reminded of how quickly the region has grown in the past 10 years.

Coffs Harbour, Lismore and Tweed Heads – according to the NSW Government will be vibrant cosmopolitan hearts, accommodating more than three-quarters of the region’s population growth over the next 20 years.

Now we can see just how much that growth has changed the way our towns and cities look.

The aerial imagery showcasing a decade of growth is from Australian location intelligence company Nearmap.

The company provides government organisations, architectural, construction and engineering firms, and other companies, with easy, instant access to high resolution aerial imagery, city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, and geospatial tools to assist with urban planning, monitoring and development projects in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

Lennox Head has seen some of the most dramatic change in the last ten years.

The population of the coastal beach town has grown by 50 per cent in a decade largely thanks to residential development moving forward at pace.

Most of the new suburbs and housing were born from the 2002 Aspirations Strategic Plan, but another Lennox Head strategic plan is in the works with a 20-year time frame of 2023 to 2043.

“Greenfield development potential” has already been earmarked as a key consideration for the new plan.

Suffolk Park is one of the most sought after locations for big wigs with big bucks.

Its beachside location and proximity to airports means Suffolk Park is the new home of megastars and the holiday spot for city slickers.

The Block’s interior designer Darren Palmer forked out close to $4 million for a Tallow Beach property while Luke Hemsworth lodged plans for a $4.3 million beachfront home in September last year.

The population of Casuarina has doubled in a decade and its comparison to 2010 is mesmerising.

Ten years ago it looked like a cosy and quiet beach town.

Fast forward to 2021 and the area has exploded with residential development expanding the places on offer for holiday makers.

Based on the beachfront, property prices in the town have skyrocketed since the beginning of the 2020s.

The high-rise development boom hasn’t hit the town with stand-alone houses making up two thirds of the housing mix.

Murwillumbah has progressed further down the development road than other North Coast towns with apartments and townhouses making up about a quarter of private dwellings.

With the town expanding toward the west, freestanding homes are preferred although the prices of units have more than doubled in three years.

Lismore is an outlier in terms of development.

While there has been plenty of changes to the style of the area, it has been mostly commercial.

The population of the Lismore area, including Goonellabah has been consistently growing at less than half a per cent every year for the last decade.

Less than 1000 extra people have moved to the area in ten years.

If you look close enough you might spot the Big Prawn!

With the Pacific Highway running right through the middle of West Ballina it has grown considerably in a decade.

The site of the Bunnings Warehouse has been developed while the land around Emmanuel Anglican College has been worked on with more residential living surrounding it in Riverbend Village.

The eastern and southern parts of Bangalow have been the site of the most residential development.

The population reaches just over 2,000 people but is an incredibly popular spot for holiday makers.

Its main street, Byron Street, is chock full of popular cafes and restaurants with many of its shopfronts still preserving its old school facade.

The small town could be yet to change once more with the Bangalow 15-year Village Plan looking to “encourage higher residential densities in and within close walking distance to the village centre”.

A short drive from Byron Bay and a stone throw from Queensland, Terranora is on board the growth train on the North Coast.

According to realestate.com Terranora house prices have experienced close to 50 per cent growth in the last nine years to an average of just under one million dollars.

Single houses are still the preferred style of build with virtually no townhouses or apartments seen across the landscape.

The median weekly household income has risen by $300 in the last five years owing to the areas strong trades network and a growing number of professionals, however the median weekly rent has grown alongside it.

One of the last remaining greenfields on the North Coast is now well on the road to a build up.

The Nearmap images show the Boambee East residential development along the southern side of Lyons Road in Rutland Street and Celeste Place.

The large development site in the 2021 image is the location of mega home-display village Coral Homes.

Developers are circling the area with hundreds of homes proposed to council last year

The average age of Toormina is growing and the number of residents over the age of 80 has increased to one of its highest levels.

That’s why Toormina’s Marian Grove Retirement Village can be seen expanding even further along with other health services in the area.

Twenty per cent of the Coffs City area works in health and support services which is now higher than the New South Wales average.

Grafton will be the site of more social housing developments in the next two years with 24 units at Bimble Ave.

The city is expected to see a slight jump in its population as they experience a growing number of subdivision residential applications at council level.

Grafton Base Hospital has expanded in recent years including nearby on Alumy Creek and Gordon Wingfield Park.

Development in the hills of Goonellabah has been progressing at a steady pace.

The aerial images show residential living has sprung up in different parts of the suburb including near the Lismore City Council area on Oliver Ave nearby a large green area turned over for housing in what is now Canary Drive and surrounds.

Covid-19 hasn’t put a dampener on any plans for the suburb to slow down, with investment proposals continuing throughout the last two years.

Mullumbimby’s progress as the counterculture capital of the Byron Hinterland can be seen in its growth since 2014.

Home to just over 4,000 residents, Mullumbimby’s population has increased by a quarter in the space of a decade with expansion seen through the Western part of the town near Tallowood Ridge.

Byron Shire Council’s Mullumbimby Masterplan expects more medium density housing should Transport NSW follow through with more use of the rail corridor and is investigating expanding the “urban growth boundary” for new residential areas.