The new South East Queensland Regional Plan was released on 28th July revealing the expected population growth from a current 2.8 million people to 4.4 million by the early 2030’s. The plan governs how "Australia’s Fastest Growing Region" is managed from now to 2031.

One of the most common success principles espoused by many a great motivational or entrepreneurial speaker is to "swim against the tide". Any dead fish can swim downstream! "Be like the salmon, go against the tide and swim upstream" they say. Even Walt Disney (as you’ve heard from our very own success coach LOL) would make decisions based on ten of his twelve advisor’s disagreeing with him.

Well I am going to disagree with all of ‘them’ this time. Yes, when it comes to investing, in many cases one would be turning the tide on the ‘popular opinion’ surrounding them however there is one time when I will follow the crowd.

South East Queensland is the fastest growing region in Australia and is fuelled principally by migration from the southern states. Yes, we are having more babies (probably due to our warm relaxed lifestyle), with Australia recording its lowest birth rate of 1.7 babies per woman in 2001 now reaching a current birth rate of 1.94 leading to a mini ‘baby boom’. However the region has experienced significant population growth over the last two decades, growing on average by 55,000 to 80,000 persons a year since 1986. This growth equates to 1000 new arrivals to the region every week. And that situation is not expected to abate.

The population of the Gold Coast was expected to increase to 749,000 from the current 466,500 by 2031 – a 60 per cent increase.

With all this growth in mind, the government had a huge job of planning for this change to our hidden paradise. How were they going to keep the balance between the spectacular beauty of our region that attracted people in the first place and house, employ and move all these people around?

According to the ‘Plan’, 754,000 homes will be needed across the South East Corner which includes Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. The mix is expected to be divided as following:

The plan is to protect 85% of the region including koala habitat from damage by avoiding urban sprawl. Development will be focussed around "transit oriented communities" where the centre of the development is a train station or bus interchange with shopping, commercial, medical and educational facilities surrounding it then higher density living within that.

On the Gold Coast infill development predominantly around Southport, Robina, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Coolangatta, Nerang, Helensvale and Bundall will cater for up to 97,000 of these, while broad hectare developments in areas such as Coomera, Hope Island, Pimpama, Ormeau, Maudsland and Reedy Creek are expected to accommodate 32,000 dwellings.

Queensland’s Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the plan set an urban dwelling target of 15 homes per hectare but would protect the "great backyard" as a housing option. "That is a style of housing and a style of residential accommodation that people in southeast Queensland know very well," he said.

A significant proportion of future residential growth will be accommodated through infill and redevelopment within the urban framework and established urban areas. Prime locations for infill development are around urban activity centres that have existing facilities, services and amenities, and along public transport corridors and nodes where the public transport system can best service the additional population.

"That’s why the Gold Coast Rapid Transit project is so important and infrastructure such as this is crucial to our plan to protect the Gold Coast lifestyle that is the envy of Australia" said Mr Hinchliffe.

Minister Hinchliffe said the plan would also ensure employment growth would support the expected population increase.

"Historically, the Gold Coast’s economy has been linked to tourism and recreation industries, however, it has diversified and comprises significant commercial, retail and industrial areas, as well as specialist health, education and technology hubs," Mr Hinchliffe said.

"The coast’s Principal Activity Centres at Southport and Robina are expected to expand their roles as commercial, retail, administrative and specialist centres and evolve into integrated, mixed-use centres.

"Tourism will continue to be a significant economic driver, while the local marine industry will grow through an expansion of the Gold Coast Marine Precinct at Coomera and the proposed establishment of a marine industry precinct at Steiglitz."

It is a very exciting time to be living in SEQ, as opportunity is set to abound in business, employment housing and investment. I’m quite happy that to move towards my financial ’success’, this time, I can ‘follow the crowd’.

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Happy Investing,

Katrina Lockhart
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