Less than an hour’s drive north of Brisbane’s CBD, what was once a patch of dirt is slowly transforming into Queensland’s newest city.
Formerly known as Caboolture West, Waraba will eventually be home to 70,000 residents and about 30,000 homes — similar in size to Mackay.
It’s one of the few areas where new housing is underway as the state grapples with a supply crisis and soaring land prices, and developers scramble to find infill residential sites to meet demand.
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Waraba will be home to 70,000 residents by the time its finished – a new city the size of Mackay.
Construction has just finished on stage one of Waraba’s first neighbourhood, Lilywood Landings, by Lennium Group, will include 228 residential lots, as well as a childcare centre and a service station.
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Driving through the display village with its picture perfect homes feels a little like something from The Truman Show, but with a starting price of $280,000 for a 315sqm plot on which you can build a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house, it’s no wonder buyers are flocking here.
To the south of Flagstone in Logan, Flinders Lakes is another new city of 52,000 residents that will soon come alive, with construction of the first homes to start later this year.
A rnder of the housing estate, Lilywood Landings, by Lennium Group.
Then there’s Stockland’s five-suburb city, Aura, on the southern end of the Sunshine Coast, where more than 50,000 people will eventually live.
Aura will deliver more than 20,000 homes across 2400ha of residential community.
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Entire new suburbs are also taking shape such as White Rock, in the Ripley Valley, 35km from Brisbane’s CBD, which will comprise about 2500 homes.
Kinma Valley Estate, in Morayfield north of Brisbane, is another 2000-home community taking shape, with land starting from $458,000, and homes starting at $298,000.
Stockland’s Aura display village.
Project home builder, Creation Homes, will commence over 400 new dwellings this financial year — many in these new master-planned communities.
Creation Homes general manager Peter Ryan said despite these new suburbs and projects launching, there was still a “giant lack” of new land supply for all buyer profiles across southeast Queensland.
Mr Ryan said many buyers were waiting 12 months or more from the date they purchased their land to the date their builders could start construction.
Peter Ryan, Creation Homes general manager. Image supplied.
“Land prices continue to grow per new stage release at rates never seen before in southeast Queensland because of the lack of supply and the demand pressures from new home builders,” Mr Ryan said.
“This is squeezing many buyers out of the market. Urgent action is need to fund local and regional infrastructure so new projects can be brought to market so that supply and competition can increase, which will help new home buyers.”
Oliver Hume chief economist Matt Bell said median lot prices in southeast Queensland rose by 16 per cent in 2024, causing the market to lose its previously significant affordability advantage over Melbourne.
Stockland’s Rivermont, a new community development in Waraba (formerly Caboolture West).
“We still expect…interstate and overseas migration levels to remain strong and falling interest rates to support sales rates and median price growth,” Mr Bell said.
Oliver Hume Queensland general manager Dan Ross said it was still a “very tight market with many land releases being snapped up before they even reach the open market”.
“It is important to really shop around and stay on top of what is coming to market and move quickly to lock in your preferred lot,” Mr Ross said.
An artist’s impression of Creation Homes’ display home at White Rock. Image supplied.
Colliers director development sites, residential, Adam Rubie said the pool of land subdivision sites across Brisbane and surrounding LGAs had been shrinking dramatically over the past 12 months.
“Right now, you could probably count on one hand the number of shovel-ready sites in the northern Brisbane region that could be brought to market within six months,” Mr Rubie said.
“At the same time, there are a lot of private developers and builder-developers desperately hunting for new sites to keep their pipelines stocked.”
