3 June 2019
More and more buyers are looking at moving away from smaller homesites to acreage living across South East Queensland.
The increasing scarcity of larger homesites across South East Queensland is fuelling demand from lifestyle buyers looking to swap suburbia for acreage living, according to developer QM Properties.
The latest Queensland Government data shows the average suburban lot in the South East has decreased in size from 605sqm in 2008 to 429sqm in 2018, leaving buyers looking to the city fringes for greener alternatives.
QM Properties is the largest acreage land developer in Queensland, with over 12 current projects offering acreage lots across the Gold Coast, Logan, Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay.
QM Properties General Sales Manager Damien Ross said the company’s acreage estates were proving popular with buyers wanting to create unique homes.
“While smaller blocks can be restrictive, acreage lots allow people the space they need to have true variety in their home designs,” he said.
“Our acreage estates attract buyers with a lifestyle focus so we put a lot of work into developing lots that offer different presentations and landscapes.
“Be it a ranch-style home, Queenslander or adding a granny flat for extended family members, acreage lots allow people the flexibility they need to turn their dreams into reality.”
Mr Ross said the acreage approach also proved beneficial when it came to ongoing land sales.
“We complete our covenant approvals in-house, which makes it easier to maintain high standards as people build their homes,” he said.
“We are committed to creating an environment filled with high quality homes so when we get to selling the final stages of a development the estate has already become a destination.”
Stephen Thrum and fiancée Leah Anderson are among buyers who have been drawn to QM Properties’ River Oaks estate,
which features more than 130 lots between 1988 and 3.5 acres on sprawling, lightly wooded land fringed by the Logan River.
“The beauty of River Oaks is it offers the complete range of land you could want in an estate,” said Mr Thrum, who has built a home on a 2000sqm lot and will be married in the estate’s main park later this year.
“We were originally looking at estates with smaller lots but found so many developers have zero sympathy for the contours of the natural landscape. I consider them ‘production line’ estates because they just produce small lots that are all flattened.
“QM Properties has put a lot of work in to ensuring each of River Oaks’ lots is unique, which allowed us to be creative when it came to decisions such as the orientation of our home and landscaping.
“The after-sales experience was also incredible as they are so invested in the covenant process. We had technically finished the transaction when we paid for the land but they continued to provide advice on fencing, landscaping and other issues.
“They clearly have plenty of knowledge and experience when it comes to acreage estates.”
Mr Ross said River Oaks was one of the final acreage estates to be developed in the Logan area and had the rare bonus of being serviced by underground power, town water and high-speed NBN.
“Acreages are getting very thin on the ground, let alone an estate like this that is fully serviced,” he said.
“QM Properties has owned the River Oaks land for 25 years and while it may have been easier to break it in to smaller lots many years ago, the decision to create an acreage estate has paid off.
“We only have 23 lots left in the final stage and once they are sold, there won’t be anything else like it in the area.”
Other QM Properties acreage estates include Jimboomba Woods, a 550-allotment estate on 485ha of former cattle grazing land north of Beaudesert, and Mahoney’s Pocket, which has lots ranging from 4000sqm to more than 1.6ha in the Logan suburb of Woodhill.
