Residents left out in the cold as population booms

The Gold Coast’s population is growing at a rapid rate but the problem with such fast-paced growth is that housing just isn’t keeping up, leaving people – literally – out in the cold.

Homeless on the Gold Coast is rife as more people struggle with housing affordability. Picture: Jerad Williams

OPINION
FOR years the Gold Coast has been a great location to holiday in, but never – heaven forbid – live.

Well, not anymore.

According to buyer’s agency Propertyology, the Gold Coast is now the sixth largest city in Australia supporting a population that has burgeoned from 50,000 to 650,000 people, and growing.

All this it has achieved in less than 50 years, making it the fastest-developing city in the country.

The city wants to attract more people but there is a severe housing shortage. Picture Mike Batterham

Yet the problem with such fast-paced population growth is that housing just isn’t keeping up. We’re leaving people out in the cold – literally.

During Covid house prices soared, pushing property out of reach of many demographics with the city’s median in 2021 ticking over to an eye-watering $950,000 from $150,000 in 1990.

In only three years, house prices have jumped 53 per cent and apartments 38 per cent.

Property prices have risen so much, according to Propertyology, that the Gold Coast is now more expensive to live in than five out of Australia’s eight capital cities.

While the market has started to cool, a shortage of stock is keeping prices buoyant in sought-after locations, so there has been no downward shift in the median.

In fact, it continues to rise, although not as rapidly as the 30 per cent to 50 per cent growth we witnessed last year.

There can be no denying that housing affordability is an issue for thousands across the Gold Coast, who are either trying to buy a home or simply put a roof over their head in the form of a rental.

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And the situation is worsening. Vacancy rates are at their lowest level in more than 10 years, slumping below 0.4 per cent in the first quarter, sending rents soaring.

PropTrack data shows inquiry levels for rental properties in what are traditionally less sought-after suburbs have spiked in the past 12 months, with people forced away from the beachfront and further inland.

Stories of people being forced to live on the street or in their cars are growing. Picture Glenn Hampson

As such, the demand for rental properties closer to the beach have dropped, meaning you might come up against less competition when applying for a rental in Miami over, say, Mudgeeraba, but only because fewer people can afford it.

The most worrying thing is that we have been experiencing higher rents, lower vacancies and higher house prices for some time, and while stories of people forced out of their homes and on to the streets grow ever more common, no one seems to be coming up with any answers to the problem.

And encouraging more people to move to the city while this is the case is not going to help the situation, but simply make it more acute.

Government and all relevant industries must pull together and come up with some clear guidelines around building and planning permissions, housing densities and height restrictions. At present, the guidelines are either too vague, too restrictive, too fluid or just ill-conceived.

If the QLD government, local council and local tourism bodies want to coax more people to come and live in our beautiful city, then they are duty bound to ensure that those who do migrate here can find suitable housing that they can afford and want to live in – not just for tomorrow or next week, but for next decade and beyond.