THE price of Gold Coast house blocks will double in just five years, according to two leading property figures.
Leda Holdings acquisition manager Richard Duce and REIQ Gold Coast chairman John Newlands said a land shortage was driving the price growth.
A new Housing Industry of Australia and RP Data report shows the Gold Coast and Tweed are ranked in the top-four most expensive regional housing markets in Australia.
The Kimberley is the most expensive regional market, with Richmond-Tweed ranking second and the Gold Coast following closely behind in fourth place.
With the current population on the Gold Coast and Tweed Heads edging towards 600,000, residential land is drying up, with the city hemmed in by undevelopable swamp land and mountain ranges.
Mr Duce said home buyers would struggle to buy residential land for under $500,000 in five years.
“Land prices are already going up by $2000 a month, which has accumulated to $48,000 in the past two years,” Mr Duce said. “Over the past two years the Gold Coast has been increasing in prices and it is no surprise that it is now one of the most expensive regional markets in the country.
“There are roughly 2000 blocks left in Mudgeeraba, 800 in Helensvale and 3500 in Pimpama and Coomera, with some 5500 blocks of land in the very north of NSW. Once these blocks go, the price is just going to get higher.”
Mr Duce said while there was plenty of vacant land in the city, much of it could not be developed.
“There is no way we can build on flood-prone land on on swamps, it is not viable,” he said.
Mr Newlands said the creation of smaller lots would go some way towards meeting buyer demand.
“Prices will double but as far as land goes, the Gold Coast will see a big trend of subdivision on larger blocks,” Mr Newlands said.
Social analyst David Chalke said the Gold Coast was going through growing pains.
“The Gold Coast is becoming a bit of a squeeze in its central parts already and in five years it will get more dense,” Mr Chalke said.
“The market is changing, developers are building towards brownfield land and converting old industrial patches to residential housing.’’
HIA says the median lot price on the Gold Coast is $229,800.
