Ipswich Proves Frontier In Affordable Housing

The ripple effect of South East Queensland’s relentless growth and urban sprawl has Brisbane’s outer western corridor shaping up as the region’s ‘final frontier’ for affordable and well-connected housing.

A new Urbis report, The Future of South East Queensland Housing, forecasts the Ipswich Local Government Area (LGA) will reap the lion’s share of population, job and housing growth as jobs decentralise from the Brisbane CBD and housing demand shifts to more affordable locations.

Author Angus McLean said inner Brisbane’s physical constraints and lack of affordable housing were already driving investment and people to infrastructure and amenity-rich satellite cities such as Greater Springfield and North Lakes, which would soon funnel into the dynamic Ipswich region.

“South East Queensland is already seeing the beginning of this shift – a desire for housing that maximises quality of life and minimises the cost of living, offering competitively priced housing opportunities in well-located destinations with proximity to amenity and infrastructure,” he said.

Mr McLean said Ipswich was shaping as such a destination with its population set to more than double to 670,000 over the next 20 years, the biggest population growth in the South East corner.

“Increasing by more than 130 per cent over the next 20 years, the Ipswich LGA will play a vital role in satisfying the future population growth of South East Queensland,” he said.

This surge of new residents to Ipswich and its surrounds will generate SEQ’s highest level of housing demand with 6,600 new homes needed each year, while jobs growth is expected to more than double to 2.6 per cent per annum, far outstripping any other LGA in the region.

Mr McLean said while the median house price in the outer western corridor had grown a solid 2.8 per cent to $325,000 in the past year, it was still the most affordable housing stock in SEQ and compared very favourably with Brisbane LGA’s median of $620,000.

Urbane Homes Director Jon Rivera said his business was investing strongly in the Ipswich region, foreseeing growing demand for well-priced housing in such a critically low supplied region.

“The western corridor is one of the last remaining areas where you will find affordable homes this close to inner Brisbane,” he said.

“Five years ago SEQ residents had options in Brisbane, North Lakes, Springfield, Logan and Northern Gold Coast to purchase a new home under $400,000, but now the opportunities are few and far between and the western corridor is the last frontier to buy a new home under $400,000.

“Investors from Sydney are capitalising on this as NSW first home buyers are being forced to geographically invest for their first home, seeing how affordable our market is in comparison to their own.

“The Ipswich median house price is sitting at a low $325,000 while people in Parramatta are paying $960,000 to live in an equal distance from the CBD with terrible connection and infrastructure.”