New towers and huge population growth tipped by 2032

The Gold Coast will be a very different place in July 2032 when the flame is lit for the first-ever Olympic Games in SEQ. New towers and a rapidly growing population are on the way.

It’s July 2032 and the flame is about to be lit for the first-ever Olympic Games in southeast Queensland.

The Gold Coast is home to 812,000 people, 161,650 more than in 2021, and, still, they are coming through the turnstiles.

New data crunched by consulting firm Urbis tips the city’s population will increase by 2.4 per cent from 2026. An extra 119,800 jobs will be needed to squeeze 421,800 people into work.

An Urbis artist impression of how the Gold Coast skyline will look in the 2030s. Graphic: URBIS

A new breed of medium and high-rise residential towers will dominate the skyline to house the new residents, and long-time locals downsizing from suburban homes.

While the population will continue to be disproportionately older than other cities, a leading demographer says the city will increasingly become popular with ageing millennials.

Simon Kuestenmacher, co-founder and research director at The Demographics Group, said the Gold Coast would continue to be the “big fat winner” of the post-Covid population shift.

Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher from Demographics Group.

“More people can now choose their home based on factors other than office locations and, increasingly, there are going to be jobs which can be done with a laptop,” he said.

“While they are called the Brisbane Olympic Games, it is really a southeast Queensland event and it means the future is bright as the population continues to grow.

“The growth will come from millennials who will be seeking family-size housing which they cannot afford in the capitals anymore.

“Why would you want to work or live in a two-bedroom unit on the outskirts of Sydney where it is so expensive when you could live anywhere on the Gold Coast?”

Mr Kuestenmacher said the Coast would also benefit from a significant infrastructure boom in the next decade, both to cope with the population growth and the Olympic Games.

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