Sunshine Coast Lunch

The second Property Council Sunshine Coast Lunch for the year, held at the Innovation Centre on Friday 10 August, explored the challenge of maintaining long term housing affordability in the face of an expected population boom over the next 20 years.

Tim Lawless, Research Director Asia Pacific – CoreLogic, provided a keynote presentation outlining the current affordability landscape on the Sunshine Coast and the outlook for the future.

Analysis presented by Tim, demonstrated that growth in dwelling values has held firm across the Sunshine Coast, while the pace of capital gains has eased across Brisbane and Gold Coast. Although most consider the Sunshine Coast comparably affordable, Tim outlined how housing prices remain high relative to incomes. The dwelling price to income ratio on the Sunshine Coast is now lower than it was a decade ago, but it remains significantly higher than Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Tim concluded that a broad mix of housing, catering for local families, first home buyers, sea changers and holiday homes, as well as appropriate spending on infrastructure, is essential to maintain a vibrant community and ensure affordability constraints are well managed.

Following Tim’s presentation, he joined Amy Degenhart, Principal Architect & Director – DegenhartSHEDD and Bruce Harper, General Manager Queensland – AVID Property Group, for a panel session moderated by Property Council Sunshine Coast Committee Chairman, and Regional Manager – Stockland, Ben Simpson.

Amy shared her experiences in designing smaller lots and innovative housing typologies which deliver greater densities without compromising on amenity. Amy outlined how, through her projects and in other comparable developments, community confidence has been built in this model of housing and how it has achieved affordability objectives.

Bruce provided his insights on the current Sunshine Coast housing market, and his outlook for the future of the market through the lens of AVID’s Harmony project. While expressing concern over the achievability of the SEQ Regional Plan targets for the Sunshine Coast, Bruce noted that more greenfield land will ultimately be required to meet the region’s housing future demand.

The Property Council would like to thank the speakers for sharing the insights with our Sunshine Coast members and guests, and SMEC for their sponsorship of the lunch.

Photos from the event can be found here.