Aerial images reveal pace of change in fastest growing suburbs

An incredible series of before-and-after aerial images has revealed the staggering pace of development in Queensland’s fastest growing suburbs. USE THE INTERACTIVES

An incredible series of before-and-after aerial images has revealed the staggering pace of development in Queensland’s fastest growing suburbs.

The exclusive images by Nearmap show how each of the state’s top ten growth areas has changed over the last ten years.

Neat rows of cookie cutter houses replaced a patchwork of rural lots, as state government and developers raced to accommodate 750,000 new arrivals to the Sunshine State.

Greater Brisbane’s population increased by 20 per cent between 2011 and 2021, while the rest of the state grew by 14 per cent, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics census.

Springfield Lakes in Ipswich took the title of Queensland’s fastest growing suburb, with 13,500 new arrivals bringing its population to 23,526.

Coomera on the northern Gold Coast recorded the state’s next highest jump of 11,437 new residents to a total of 20,225.

Typically, outlying regions were earmarked for priority development, with Qld’s other top growth areas including Murrumba Downs-Griffin and Mango Hill in the Moreton Bay region, Ripley and Redbank Plains in Ipswich, Caloundra West-Baringa on the Sunshine Coast, and Yarrabilba in Logan.

The exception is inner-city Newstead-Bowen Hills, where a focus on affordable apartment supply has attracted 10,731 new residents, including a high proportion of renters.

Ideally, a masterplanned community comprises a thriving mix of residential homes, schools, shopping centres, businesses and health precincts, and recreational facilities.

But the burgeoning population of the last two years in particular — Qld notched up the largest positive change of any state or territory in 2021 — has seen some areas fall behind in benchmarks of affordability and/or liveability.

PRD chief economist Diaswati Mardiasmo ranked growth areas against criteria including affordability, rental yield, vacancy rates, unemployment, and future development projects.

Just three of the top ten suburbs satisfied all five criteria — Murrumba Downs-Griffin, Mango Hill, and Caloundra West-Baringa.

“There are definitely some winners out there, if you are willing to look outside of what is perhaps your comfort zone,” Dr Mardiasmo said.

“I say this because these areas are not your normal Brisbane CBD suburbs, which can be counteracted by the suburbs ticking all of your liveability requirements, and future development in the area will enhance this.”

But it is not just rural fields in southeast Queensland that are being transformed into residential housing estates at rapid speed.

Up north, aerial images show new housing taking over tracts of vacant land in Jensen, Kelso and Mount Louisa in Townsville since 2014, and in suburbs such as Mount Bentley, Redlynch and Trinity Park in Cairns.

Masterbuilders North Queensland regional manager Emma Peters said some suburbs were just bushland or had cattle grazing on them just a few years ago.

“Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Townsville continues to grow,” Ms Peters said.

“Unlike our southern neighbours, Townsville still has adequate land available for development to the north and south of the city.

“With a rental vacancy rate of under 1 per cent, these new homes are vitally needed to address the housing crisis which could hamper our growth.”

REIQ Cairns zone chair Tom Quaid said the Far North region needed even more housing.

“There is so much demand and not enough supply,” he said, adding that while there had been a reasonable uptick in housing estate developments, more was needed in high density.

“Realistically, there is not much around that $500,000 mark as there are not enough unit and townhouse options for first home buyers and downsizers,” he said.

“And the biggest problem we have is that there is only a narrow band of land that could be developed as there is water on one side, mountains on the other, restrictions around flood mapping and then also around state land and wet tropics.

“We will get to a point, probably sooner rather than later, where we will need a focus on high density and small lot developments.”

The Courier Mail reported in August that a shortage of vacant land and huge buyer demand had pushed land values up close to 30 per cent over the last 12 months across Qld.

On the Gold Coast, Ray White agent Thomas Fliniks said quality land was a “finite market”, attracting a “crazy premium”.

“There’s no secret we’re running out of viable and buildable land where people want to be,” Mr Fliniks said.

“What you would have paid 10 years ago for a block of land on 800sq m, you’d pay the same for 400sq m now.”

Springfield Land Corporation boss Maha Sinnathamby spearheaded Australia’s largest masterplanned community in 1992, purchasing a huge block of land he said “no other developer wanted to touch”.

Lendlease was contracted to deliver 10,000 homes to complete the sold-out Springfield Lakes community in 2020.

PropTrack data shows house prices in the suburb have soared 30 per cent over the last 12 months to a median of $640,000 as demand continues to outstrip supply.

Springfield Lakes’ newest development, Springfield Rise, is 50 per cent complete and already home to 6500 residents.

A Lendlease spokesperson said the new project would host 4000 homes for 12,000 residents.

“Springfield Rise is the number one selling project in Ipswich and number two over the last quarter.

“Its location and connection to convenience and community makes it a highly desirable place to live,” the spokesperson said.

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Mr Fliniks said the Coomera area witnessed incredible growth through the pandemic, as homebuyers priced out of more central Coast locations pushed further north.

A waterfront home in Coomera Waters set a suburb price record for the second time in less than 12 months, selling under the hammer for $2.45m in August.

Coomera’s median house price was up 18.5 per cent to $735,000 over the year to September 2022.

“Buyers are definitely prepared to look a bit further afield and they are realising there’s value beyond the obvious,” Mr Fliniks said.

“I’m not talking it down by any means, but when an area grows that rapidly, it’s natural for the infrastructure to struggle to keep up and it would be tremendous if the government could expedite that process.

“It would drive prices up significantly, and desirability of the area along with it,” he said.

The aerial imagery is from Australian location intelligence company, Nearmap, which provides government and private sector organisations with data and geospatial tools to assist with urban planning, monitoring and development projects in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

Originally published as Aerial images reveal pace of change in fastest growing suburbs