Avenues of Highfields subdivision development paused amid rising interest rates, slower demand and $5m intersection requirement

An award-winning subdivision near Toowoomba won’t release the last of its lots for now, and the decision is believed to be partially due to a $5m intersection upgrade.

The requirement to upgrade an intersection at a cost of $5m is believed to be one of several reasons for the slowdown of work on a major subdivision north of Toowoomba.

The award-winning Avenues of Highfields still has nearly 170 of its 530 lots to develop off the New England Highway, with 71 of them currently in front of the Toowoomba Regional Council for approval.

But developer Stephen Bowers confirmed this week he wasn’t marketing these final lots right now.

It is understood the pause is at least partially due to the state government requiring the Avenues upgrade the intersection of Cronin Road and the New England Highway to include signals – the cost of which is believed to have ballooned to more than $5m.

PLANNED: The balance of the masterplanned Avenues of Highfields estate has been brought forward to the Toowoomba Regional Council for approval.

Mr Bowers would neither “confirm or deny” the intersection costs had played a role, but said rising interest rates, slowing demand from first homebuyers and consistent supply chain issues were a consideration.

“We’re not marketing them at the moment, because we’re not sure on time frames,” he said.

“There are going to be two more lifts in interest rates and there has been a drop-off in inquiry.

“First homebuyers have dropped out of the market, and our next stage is $15m of borrowing to fund it all.

“Seventy-one lots is a lot of lots so with interest rates rising, our funding would increase, so pausing isn’t a bad thing.

“Civil construction rates have blown out considerably, there have been demands on that industry.”

Stephen Bowers.

However, Mr Bowers said builders had informed him some construction equipment time frames had eased in recent months.

“I was talking to one our builders and they think the supply side of building materials is starting to come down as supply chains improve and they’re working through all their builds,” he said.

“There are other things at play that are waiting for a correction.

“You used to wait 40 weeks for concrete pipes, now it’s back down to six weeks, so maybe those implications are starting to ease.”

Mr Bowers said out of the 361 lots already released to the market, just six designated for two-storey homes remained.

“There are probably about 30 homes under construction, with different builders,” he said.