Influx of migration into Townsville adds pressure to existing housing shortage

More Australians migrated to Townsville over the past year than anywhere else in the country, adding pressure to the existing housing crisis. See what needs to be done.

Tents are popping up around Townsville as the housing crisis ramps up due to a spike in migration. Picture: Richard Walker

A huge 520 per cent surge in Australians who migrated to Townsville over the past year has ramped up the pressure on the city’s already-strained housing market.

The Regional Australia Institute’s (RAI) recently released Regional Movers Index for the March Quarter revealed that Townsville topped the nation for the highest annual increase in net internal migration inflows.

Of those arrivals, nearly three quarters originated from other regional areas, with the 152.8 per cent rise, the highest for year-on-year growth.

Citing confidentiality restrictions, an RAI spokeswoman was unable to convert the percentages into actual numbers, but said most people moving to the regions came from “Sydney and Melbourne, then Perth and Brisbane”.

“Townsville is a regional powerhouse where defence, along with thriving manufacturing, construction and agricultural sectors is drawing more people from cities and other regional areas,” she said.

REIQ Townsville Zone Chair Ben Kingsberry said Townsville was an appealing place to live.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland’s Zone Chair for Townsville Ben Kingsberry said the influx of new residents began creating pressure on the rental market during the pandemic.

While the rental vacancy rate was last reported as one per cent, he said it was closer to 0.5 per cent, which he regarded as “functionally zero”.

“Townsville still hasn’t had the same level of price spikes in sales or rentals that other areas have had … (it’s) significantly cheaper than Cairns or Mackay,” Mr Kingsberry said.

“We just haven’t seen that demand slowdown, we’re still getting multiple inquiries every day from people looking to move from Victoria or New South Wales or further down south.

“The most appealing properties in sales and rentals are good quality family homes, because that’s where the lack of supply is probably hitting the hardest.”

Other than affordability, he said people were attracted to Townsville’s lifestyle, amenities, and employment opportunities.

He said house prices needed to increase further before building large scale property developments became an appealing and financially viable prospect.

Small business consultant Michael Kopittke said Townsville’s low 2.4 per cent unemployment rate underpinned the city’s need to attract more workers for call centres, the NDIS, and government projects.

Business consultant Michael Kopittke wants more incentives to build housing in Townsville. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.

“The jobs are on offer and people are moving here, and the cost of buying is very cheap and there’s long term employment with all the billions of dollars in projects we have,” he said.

“There’s nearly 300 public servant jobs that are sitting vacant here at the moment, (with) 185 at the hospital that haven’t been filled for two years,” Mr Kopittke said.

He said industry groups had warned for years about the lack of housing to meet worker demand.

“We’re running behind on housing, and we need a whole bunch of approaches,” Mr Kopittke said.

“We need the state to work with council to get housing going, not just public housing, but also come up with incentives to get people building residential housing.

Conceptual image for the residential tower planned for 344-346 Ross River Rd. Picture: Centurion Global.

“If the federal government got their act together and rolled out the $10bn reinsurance pool, that would be hundreds of million dollars with a savings for North Queensland, and deliver higher dividend yields for residential properties and we’d get more residential properties being built.”

Deputy Mayor Mark Molachino said Townsville’s role as a hub for mining, industrial, health, and defence attracted people with its services and employment opportunities.

“We’re seeing people struggling to find rental accommodation in town at the moment (due to the) very low rental vacancy rate (where) you’re having upwards of 100 people turn up to an open house to look at a rental,” Cr Molachino said.

“I’ve seen some tents being set up around the city where people are sleeping because they can’t get accommodation. That is very concerning.”

He said Townsville hosted one of Australia’s biggest defence bases, which was bringing a lot of people into the city as it grew.

Deputy Mayor Mark Molachino wants DHA to invest in building more housing in Townsville. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“Defence Housing Australia (DHA) needs to step up to the plate and start providing defence housing to defence people because what we’re seeing is they don’t have the stock, they dropped the ball in Townsville,” he said.

“Now we’re seeing them reach out into the civilian market, which is taking more housing stock away from people who aren’t in defence.

“We really need them to step up and start investing in housing stock here.”

The council offers incentives to build new housing.

“We can waive up to 100 per cent of infrastructures charges up to $500,000 for eligible projects to promote high value development in prescribed Townsville city core and fringe areas, in the medium density,” he said.

“(Also, if) a significant social or community development to Townsville can be demonstrated … like build-to-rent or social housing … they’re eligible (to be discounted) up to 100 per cent of council levied infrastructure charges as well.”

A DHA spokeswoman said they had supported the Townsville community for more than 20 years and “DHA absolutely rejects the comments made by the Townsville Deputy Mayor”.

“We would like to stress that we have engaged with Townsville City Council on this matter on a number of occasions,” the spokeswoman said.

“DHA maintains a large portfolio of housing in the Townsville area to support Defence members and their families.

“This portfolio significantly reduces the stress on the housing market in the Townsville area.”

Originally published as Influx of migration into Townsville adds pressure to existing housing shortage