Melbourne developer Deague Group is planning its first regional development, unveiling a 300-lot project in a shire where homes sell for $1-million plus. The plans for the Alpine Shire are the first time the group has proposed a low-density development, building on booming house prices in the Victorian holiday destination of Bright. Earlier this year Deague Group purchased the 40ha site at 805 Great Alpine Road, a former tobacco farm, from Olympic skier Malcolm Milne for $35 million. Bright, at the base of Mount Hotham, has a population of just 2406 in the 2016 Census. It is about 320km north-east of Melbourne. Detached dwellings in the region sell for more than $1 million.  The skyrocketing property prices in the region were a cause for concern even before the pandemic. It has caused housing availability and affordability issues in the town, with long-time locals being priced out. ▲ The former tobacco farm in Bright will be divided into 300 lots in a bid to address housing and affordability concerns in the Alpine Shire. Deague chief executive William Deague said while the project was a bit left of field for them, it would fit well with the community. “The Deague family has a long connection with the site, stemming from the relationship with its previous owners—the Milne family,” Deague said.  “For more than 20 years, they’ve appreciated the vast potential of the site’s location in terms of creating a new community of peerless, architecturally designed homes.  “The residences will be designed to honour the heritage character of Bright. “[We] are passionate about ensuring the development will offer as much to the surrounding community as it does to its future residents.” ▲ Like many regional centres, housing affordability and availability issues in Bright have deepened during the past two years. Alpine Shire Council planning manager James Turner said it was still early days for the development. He was the site was subalpine land and that the council would be looking for a variety of lot sizes, from 300 to 900 square metres, in the DA. “It’s the only site of a decent size that could accommodate houses that could keep up with the demand in Bright,” Turner said. “It’s certainly something to reflect its location at the bottom of the mountain, as a gateway to Mount Hotham and Dinner Planes, so we would like to see stone and timber featured.” The planning manager said there were no requirements for the public to be notified of the plans, as this should have been done in 2015, which was causing some frustration in the community. ▲ Bright is at the gateway to the Victorian snowfields, including Mount Hotham. “When the land was rezoned, from farming to general residential as it is now, there was also a development plan overlay on there,” Turner said. “It requires a development plan to be prepared before anyone can subdivide or build on the site. “For one reason or another the development plan wasn’t produced at the time of the rezoning.” Alpine Shire mayor Sarah Nicholas said the land had been identified during a land review in 2005 as an ideal area for urban growth. “I understand that some people may be concerned about a large development taking place on the edge of town, but Bright in particular and the Alpine Shire as a whole has reached an impasse when it comes to housing availability,” Nicholas said. The mayor said it would be good news for a township struggling to house vital employees and people keen for a tree-change. Floods, fire biggest constraints on regional rezoning Although demand for greenfield sites is forecast to increase in the coming years finding suitable sites continues to be a major factor.  The Black Summer bushfires tore through 1.5 million hectares of private and public land, destroyed 300 homes and caused the loss of five lives. The Alpine Shire planning manager said while schools and infrastructure were a concern for rezoning in city areas, regionally things like fire and flooding were the biggest concerns they had. “Infrastructure, engineering wise, is not really a concern because you can normally find a top engineering solution for anything,” Turner said. “The biggest ones are natural constraints, obviously bushfires, the whole of Bright is covered by a bushfire overlay and the flood risk from the Ovens.” Regional Victorian property prices to keep increasing In the past couple of years smaller cities have driven national housing values up significantly with regional areas increasing more than three times the pace of capitals in March. Corelogic research found in Victoria regional properties increased 20.2 per cent in the past 12 months, 3.7 per cent in three months and 0.9 per cent in March This compared to Melbourne with an annual growth of 9.8 per cent, three months to March at 0.1 per cent and property values decreasing by -0.1 per cent in March.  Research on greenfield markets by Oliver Hume showed lot price growth during 2021 outpaced property values, particularly in regional areas. Oliver Hume chief executive Officer Julian Coppini said the strong finish to 2021 demonstrated the continuing strong buyer confidence in greenfield land markets and 2022 would be an very interesting year. “Although regional markets were increasingly popular before Covid-19, buyer interest has surged over the last two years,” Coppini said. “We expect regional property will remain highly sought after.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. 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