The cost to build a highrise in South-East Queensland has skyrocketed 140 per cent in less than a decade as developers go back to the drawing board in a bid to make projects work.

Data in RPM Group’s first SEQ Apartments Report shows the construction cost per approved apartment in the region averaged $685,166 in the year to February this year.

Meanwhile, the cost to build a highrise now exceeds $6000 per square metre, up 16 per cent on the previous year and an eyewatering 140 per cent rise from the peak of Brisbane’s 2016 apartment boom.