Housing will be a ‘handbrake’ on Townsville’s rapid growth

Experts are predicting Townsville will grow by 18,000 jobs in the next five years - but limited housing may leave many bosses hard-pressed to find the workers they need.

While 18,000 extra jobs by 2030 is a huge number, its actually slightly below the 19,000 jobs Townsville gained over the last five years: CREDIT GETTY

Experts are predicting Townsville will grow by 18,000 jobs in the next five years - but limited housing and rising retiree numbers may leave many bosses hard-pressed to find the skilled workers they need.

Finance group KPMG has crunched the numbers, trying to figure out the future of Townsville’s economy - and the trends for several other regional centres.

While 18,000 extra jobs by 2030 seems like a huge number, the prediction is actually slightly below the 19,000 jobs Townsville has gained over the last five years.

KPMG Townsville partner David Minuzzo warned a lack of housing will act as a “handbrake” on this job growth.

“It will get harder to house everyone,” Mr Minuzzo said.

KPMG Townsville partner David Minuzzo said he was most excited about the projected population growth for Townsville.

“Last year, our dwelling approvals went down to 780, which is quite low for a city our size.”

Despite that, Mr Minuzzo said it was very exciting to see such strong population growth on the cards.

“You always want to be part of a growing population,” he said.

“The hospital is expanding, Kirwan Community Health Campus is finally going ahead. North Shore recently got bought by Oreana. Townsville is a major regional hub and the bulk of those new jobs will be coming from big infrastructure projects like CopperString, mining out west, even green energy projects.”

Huge infrastructure projects in Queensland means good tradies are becoming booked out, and too busy to work on residential homes: CREDIT GETTY

While population growth is strong, a breakdown of the actual age groups shows us one particular generation is dominating Townsville: the over 65s.

In 2024 alone, the 65+ age group dominated Townsville’s population growth, accounting for 2,400 extra residents.

In comparison, the second largest age group to grow in 2024 was the 20-29 year olds who grew by 1,100.

David Minuzzo with superannuation partner Julie Dolan in KPMG's Townsville office.

Mr Minuzzo said the growth of the 65+ group was actually normal.

“The 65s are growing at a normal rate,” he said.

“But when we look at the 70+ they are growing much faster which we believe is because people are moving in from the surrounding regions to retire.

“A really interesting factor for me was that Townsville actually entered a baby recession in 2024, where we had less babies being born, but that’s probably because of the cost-of-living.”

The 65+ age group is the fastest growing population in Townsville, driven by both an ageing population and people retiring to Townsville to be close to the hospital.

Once the figures around retiree growth are made clear, it’s really no wonder Townsville’s biggest employer is the health industry with 23,500 workers in 2024.

The next biggest industries are construction with 12,500 workers, retail (11,500), and education (11,000).

Construction is a real shining star of Townsville growth - the industry more than doubled its workforce from 6000 workers in 2019 to 13,500 in 2024.

Mr Minuzzo said even more construction workers will be needed to address the housing shortfall - but we’ll also be fighting with South-East Queensland for those skilled workers.

“With the Brisbane Olympics coming up, we’re going to be pulling from the same pool,” he said.

“There are three factors affecting housing growth. Land availability, construction worker availability, and bank approvals.”

The Olympic Rings in Melbourne. Brisbane will become the third Australian city to host the Olympic Games in 2032. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Minuzzo said the state government was “doing some good things” at the moment to begin addressing the situation.

“They’ve released the Residential Activation Fund, which provides grants to help local governments and developers cover the cost of opening up more land,” he said.

And on Wednesday, May 21, Townsville City Council approved a $210m over-50s “resort” to be built in Bohle Plains, containing up to 294 homes.

“That is a new style of accommodation we are seeing appear in Townsville,” Mr Minuzzo said.

“It’s fairly common down south, and it involves people entering a lease so they don’t actually own the property themselves.”

When Townsville City Council approved the over-50s resort, councillors said there would be a “lot of interest” in the homes from those looking to downsize.

Originally published as Housing will be a ‘handbrake’ on Townsville’s rapid growth