Banyo Site First Release for Queensland Land Scheme

Queensland is ramping up its release of state land for development, launching a new program with a 6ha site in Brisbane’s north.

The Land Activation Program aims to unlock underutilised government-owned land and fast-track housing delivery through partnerships with the private sector.

The program allowed private developers to identify and register interest in surplus state-owned land that can be brought to market for residential development, the government said.

The government will also apply a “use it or house it” policy requiring state land with no current or foreseeable operational need to be released for housing.

The program, unlike the former government’s partnership with the private sector, is not expected to require developers to include social and affordable housing.

In the first release of the program, a former Energex site at Banyo, about 16km north of Brisbane’s CBD, will be taken to market. The state said the parcel had the potential for up to 400 new homes.

More sites across Queensland were to be released in stages, the government said.

The announcement comes against the backdrop of a Queensland housing shortage fuelled by a 29 per cent slump in housing lot approvals during the past decade.

The government said the decline had contributed to record low rental vacancy rates, growing social housing waitlists and the lowest home ownership rate in the country.

▲ The Banyo site was razed and remediated by McMahon in 2017 when Energex moved its operations to a new depot at Geebung.

The Land Activation Program is part of the government’s Securing Our Housing Foundations Plan targeting a million new homes by 2044.

Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jarrod Bleijie said the government was focused on increasing land supply to address the housing shortage.

“The site at Banyo has been fenced off and vacant for years, despite it being close to public transport, shops and schools,” he said.

Bleijie said the government was committed to boosting supply by cutting red tape, accelerating approvals and bringing development-ready land to market.

Queensland Property Council executive director Jess Caire said the announcement was an important step towards increasing housing supply.

“Industry has long called for a clear and comprehensive audit of underutilised government-owned land, because identifying and activating surplus sites is critical to unlocking the new housing supply our state urgently needs,” Caire said.

Economic Development Queensland will assess industry proposals for land releases under the program using criteria designed to ensure only genuinely surplus land is unlocked for housing.