Strength in regional Queensland housing
Central Queensland has shown surprising strength in the 2011/2012 housing market, according to Master Builders Queensland.
Regional Building Approvals data released by the ABS on Tuesday showed that compared to the traditional housing driver of South East Queensland, regional areas were relatively well performing.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
New home approvals in Mackay increased by a whopping 47.6%, while on the Sunshine coast, approvals fell by 16%.
Master Builders Director of Housing Policy, Paul Bidwell, said the results were bad news for the South East.
“South East Queensland’s performance was dismal and unfortunately, 2011/2012 has turned out to be worse than the previous year. We didn’t think this was possible before Christmas, particularly with Queensland building approvals for 2011/2012 already at a 10 year low.
“What concerns us most is that the south east usually accounts for more dwelling approvals than the rest of Queensland combined. However, there were more houses approved in Mackay than the Gold Coast, which is a staggering result given the population difference, with Mackay’s population currently sitting at about 171,000, which is a mere one-third of the Gold Coast’s 527,000 population.
