Property Insights

If there is one thing the Home Builder Grant made more evident it’s that Queensland’s land supply is critically low. With more and more Southerners choosing to relocate to the Sunshine State (especially post ‘peak-pandemic’) and a shift in migration from cities to regions, this supply issue is a challenge that needs to be addressed yesterday.

While the government gears up to deal with SEQ’s growing pains, the challenges we currently face come with great opportunities, and we are very fortunate to be faced with these challenges while the rest of the world are 12 months behind us in terms of economic recovery.

With Queensland recording the highest amount of interstate migrants in Australia in the last quarter, the state’s planning team and other stakeholders are rising to the occasion with the announcement of a new specialist team set up to manage SEQ growth. This team has one month to deliver a pilot site and unlock land suitable for residential development in South East Queensland.    

So, what are the key challenges we face?

• Delivering Infrastructure

Acquire key community infrastructure sites early – how do we fund infrastructure?

• Planning Policies

How do we accelerate the planning process to get the supply we need faster?

• Development Uncertainty

How do we give developers more certainty to make economic decisions and provide for economic growth?

• Collaboration from all stakeholders

How do we work together more effectively to achieve a shared goal and with conflicting interests?

The ongoing challenge – infill development:

Communities have expressed strong resistance to urban change and density in the past and although there hasn’t been enough research done to identify the exact reasons why people are against these kinds of developments in their community, the below factors are assumed to be key players:

• Perception (the development industry needs to engage with the community more)
• Parking problems
• Impact on house values
• Renters (renters aren’t bad people!)
• Understanding feasibility

The recommendations from industry experts are:

• Involve the community earlier; Change management frameworks can create a more inclusive urban culture and support communities to identify acceptable housing outcomes
• An increased emphasis on design
• Weighing up the car-parking cost saving versus the yield loss and design challenges
• A need for clear articulation of parameters for where development / relaxations can occur

The ‘missing middle’ housing, what does this look like? 

There is an underlying need for small scale compact development typologies in suburban locations (the missing middle), which will improve affordability, allow older people to downsize within the same community and provide alternative options for families with different living arrangements.

So, what does the ‘missing middle’ look like?

• Fonzie Flat (located in an existing dwelling as a separate unit)
• Low Rise Apartments (small scale, these dwellings share common areas and entrance)
• Manor House (this looks like a detached two storey dwelling but contains three apartments and they share a common entrance)
• Side-by-side Duplex (two attached dwellings on a lot each, have their own entrance, car park and private open space)
• Stacked Duplex (contains two units above each other, each with its own entry fronting the street)

The recommendations from industry experts are:

• Alternative typologies
• Demonstration projects
• Rethink minimum lot sizes (freehold townhouses)
• New overlay or zone

When you consider the timeframe to deliver large scale land developments being 10-15 years – the need for infill and the ‘missing middle’ will become more and more apparent, especially when overseas migration returns.

If you’d like to know more about Ozzilat Property and how we can assist you on your buying journey, please contact us today.