A Brisbane developer is pouring millions into new and refurbished retirement living communities in southeast Queensland. The developments, which will include private cinemas, beauty salons and health and wellbeing centres, are being developed by Reside Communities. Projects include the $250 million vertical retirement community on the Gold Coast, Esperance at Hope Island, and a $150 million, 180-apartment golf-side community at Pacific Golf Club at Carindale. Brookland Village at Robertson has also been earmarked for a multimillion-dollar expansion.Reside Communities CEO, Glen Brown, says they arepaving the way for future retirement living in southeast Queensland, which prioritises health and wellbeing and independent living. “Esperance Hope Island is our first Gold Coast retirement village development and we’ve already welcomed more than 70 retirees since opening in May, 70% of which have moved locally.” Fairway Carindale is scheduled to open later this year while the Brookland Village at Robertson is being regenerated with new resident club facilities, including a health and wellbeing centre.
More Movies For Gold Coast
The Gold Coast City Council is in talks for a massive new film studio on the north of the Gold Coast. A closed session of full council has been briefed on an expression of interest and probity report after going to the market with its film studio proposal. It will ask the two short-listed applicants to tender for the project. Council has also announced that it will create the Gold Coast Film Commission and increase screen funding to more than $1 million a year. The project would be built at Yatala near the industrial precinct. Mayor Tom Tate says the tender process will determine the most suitable party to deliver the project. Numerous international and Australian film companies were competing for the project. The council believes there is a need for additional movie studios as the existing studios at Movie World are at capacity. The land the studios would be built on was bought by council for $12.8m in 2018.
Quote of the Week
“Forward indicators including housing finance approvals and auction clearance rates suggest further housing price increases in the near term.”
ANZ Senior economist Adelaide Timbrell
Joint Ownership With Government
The Federal Government’s new Help to Buy Scheme is expected to start early next year. The scheme is similar to a “shared equity” scheme which operates in the United Kingdom, which has 200,000 homes under shared ownership. The details of the Australian scheme were announced last week. With the Government holding up to 40% of the ownership of new homes and 30% of existing homes. In Australia applicants can only have a maximum salary of $90,000, or $120,000 for couples and they require a 2% deposit. There are 40,000 places allocated in the scheme during the first four years. There will be different price points for homes eligible to be purchased under the scheme depending on which state they are in and whether they are in capital city or regional areas. UNSW associate professor, Mark Humphery-Jenner, says the scheme “may work to a degree” if it is carefully managed, although he does not believe it will improve supply issues substantially
New Housing Push
The Federal Government is promising to build 1.2 million homes over five years as part of the National Planning Reform Blueprint, although it still faces some opposition from The Greens. Governments of all levels are looking for solutions to the housing crisis. Building approvals have reached historic highs but there is a gap between approved homes and actual completions. Between June 2020 and 2021, more than 221,000 new homes were approved but only two-thirds of these were built, as labour and materials shortages affected the industry. While Governments are looking for solutions some analysts believe it will be difficult for private sector builders to ramp up production. The private sector produces about 98% of new builds, but it is facing its own challenges, with a number of major builders going broke in the past year. Analysts say more focus needs to be put on how state and local governments bring more land for new and affordable housing to the market.
