Avenues of Highfields among developments ramping up construction as land sales explode

The Toowoomba region is witnessing its strongest land sales in more than five years, as developers ramp up construction on hundreds of lots to meet the incredible demand.

The Avenues of Highfields masterplanned housing estate is halfway to completion, thanks in part to demand created by the HomeBuilder grant.

The developer behind a major masterplanned housing estate north of Toowoomba will bring forward the balance of the subdivision to meet the incredible demand for vacant land.

Avenues of Highfields project manager Stephen Bowers said he sold a staggering 225 lots since the Federal Government launched HomeBuilder in June last year, and was in the processing of approving the remaining stages this year.

Mr Bowers said he had not seen the development industry this busy in decades, with his colleagues all ramping up their own projects.

“In stages six and seven we only have three lots and we’ve made six sales off the plan in stages four and five, which are under construction,” he said.

“We’ve applied for stage eight and nine, and we’ve got development approval for stage eight, so we’re getting operational works approval now.

“I’ve been in this industry for over 40 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it — it’s doing amazing things for the Toowoomba economy.

“The developers, the tradies and builders — everyone is fully employed.

I expected the demand to continue, which is why I’m bringing forward.

This ramping up is reflected in new statistics from the Toowoomba Regional Council, which approved the sealing of nearly 600 lots since the start of the financial year.

This figure includes more than 180 in March alone, which was the highest from a single month during that period.

Mr Bowers said the development industry remained concerned about future land supply to meet the growth, acknowledging the sector moved with the nimbleness of “an oil tanker”.

“Basically everyone has sold down their stock, and being a land developer is like manning an oil tanker,” he said.

“I had a master planned approval so it’s a little easier, but there’s a whole supply chain issue.”

Data by 3D Property Consulting, included in a presentation by the Urban Developers Institute of Australia back in February, argued the 2020/21 boom had dwarfed the previous peak in 2015, and that there were just 370 lots available for sale right now across the region.

But Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio said there was substantial land supply available in the Toowoomba region for the next five years.

‘The Toowoomba region rates most favourably in terms of the available supply of land for new housing lots in comparison with other Southeast Queensland local authorities,” he said.

“In the past three or so years, demand for new housing fell in line with reduced consumer demand in the Toowoomba residential market.

“This market situation has changed drastically in the past six months.

“We are seeing a significant surge in land sales for new homes, as well as for existing dwellings driven by the uptake of state and federal government home building grants.

“The council has been actively seeking ways in which it can continue to assist the development industry maintain its supply of housing lots.”

Cr Antonio suggested any issues with the development of land could be due to supply chain problems.

“Tradespeople and building materials may be in shorter supply than available land. This is a nationwide trend,” he said.

“In terms of available greenfield sites for residential development, the council is undertaking a major review of future growth directions to identify potential urban land that is readily serviced by critical urban infrastructure.”