Block prices rise ‘on double’
Writers lead chorus of Trump boos at Byron festival Sales soar for ‘Plane’ take-off
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 topfour 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 LEADING American political writers and novelists have warned a huge Byron Bay audience of the “terrifying’’ prospect that Donald Trump could win the US presidential election.
However, one of them, satirist, author, longtime Rolling Stone journalist and former National Lampoon editor-in- 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 swamps, it is not viable,” he said.
Mr Newlands said the creation of smaller lots would go some way towards meeting buyer demand.
Land prices are already going up by $2000 a month, which has accumulated to $48,000 in the past two years
“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. chief P.J. O’Rourke, predicted yesterday the opposite might happen – that the Democrats would win.
Speaking at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, he said this would be a catalyst for a resurgent Republican Party because a term in office for Hillary Clinton would be “the miracle’’ the vanquished party would need to rise again.
New Yorker magazine political writer William Finnegan, whose surfing life memoir Barbarian Days won a Pulitzer Prize this year, said the Republican nominee could win and that ISIS could play a role in the election, due to be held in November.
“The Trump thing has flowered in a way that I find terrifying,’’ he said.
Much of the anger that had been directed at President Barack Obama was now being transferred to Ms Clinton.
“It feels physical for me, some of what is coming out of the mob against her,’’ he said.
Award-winning author Jeffery Renard Allen said the US had an “authoritarian strain’’ in its culture and the nation, which he said failed to recognise its history and mistakes, would produce many more Donald Trumps.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: BOOK CLUB P49 THE Gold Coast Titans are preparing to run out to their biggest home crowd of the year tomorrow, boosted by Jarryd Hayne’s first appearance for the club.
Not even the chance of a slight shower will dampen the hype around the “Hayne Plane’’ take-off, with about 20,000 tickets already sold for the clash against the New Zealand Warriors.
The last time the Cbus Super Stadium reached those attendance numbers was in April this year when 21,080 packed in to watch the Queensland derby against the Broncos.
The closest the Titans have come to selling out the 27,500 stadium was back in 2009 during the finals match, again against their Broncos cousins, when there were 27,227 bums on seats.
Titans marketing manager Adam Spackman said while the game wasn’t expected to be a sellout the whole stadium was open and available.
“We are expecting our biggest crowd of the year,” he said.
“We want everyone from the Gold Coast there to fill up Cbus.
“We are urging everyone not to listen to the rumours that we have sold out.
“It will be a busy game but there are plenty of tickets available.”
The Gold Coast Suns are determined not to be forgotten amid all the Hayne hype.
They battle the GWS Giants at home today and are offering $10 tickets to Bond University students.
Fans heading to either game are being urged to secure their tickets online before heading out to the venue.
RICHARD DUCE