Rare capital city suburbs where land is still under $500 sqm

Oliver Hume project marketing CEO Julian Coppini said despite massive price rises since the pandemic, residential home sites under $500/sqm could still be found for buyers looking to build their own homes.

New research by the firm uncovered the top 10 suburbs across the greater capital city region to build in – four of which still had average prices under $500/sqm.

“Any homesite in a new residential community under $400,000 represents great value when it is close to a major city and has easy access to infrastructure like schools, transport networks and employment hubs,” Mr Coppini said, and southeast Queensland’s median was hovering around $380,000s despite huge surges recently.

Gleneagle in the Logan growth corridor in the greater Brisbane region’s south was the best value place to buy land, the firm found, with a median price of $453/sqm, which was less than half the current southeast Queensland median of $923/sqm.

Suburbs in the top 10 were generally a bit further from Brisbane CBD such as the Dawn project at Walloon but offering larger homesites. Picture: Realestate.com.au

Logan dominated the top 10 with six suburbs all up, with Scenic Rim also on $453/sqm, Beaudesert averaging $498/sqm for land, Jimboomba at $591/sqm, Bahrs Scrub on $652/sqm and Yarrabilba sitting around $672/sqm.

Three suburbs in the top 10 most affordable places for land across southeast Queensland were in Ipswich – Plainland averaging $475/sqm, Collingwood Park at $607/sqm and Walloon on $702/sqm.

The only northern suburb on the list was Upper Caboolture in Moreton Bay where land averaged $634/sqm.

Mr Coppini said “these areas are a little further from Brisbane, so they also have homesites that are a bit larger than suburbs closer to the city”.

Oliver Hume Queensland general manager Dan Ross said greenfield development areas in Ipswich and Logan were great value for first home buyers looking to get off the rental treadmill.

But he warned “while we are seeing more supply, it is still a very tight market with many land releases being snapped up before they even reach the open market”.

Oliver Hume Queensland general manager Dan Ross. Picture: Realestate.com.au

“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.”

The Oliver Hume property group manages project sales and marketing for some of Australia’s leading developers including Villawood Properties, HB Land & ID Land.

The data was based on 1,582 tracked sales in the three months to the end of June 30 and excluded homesites that were bigger than 800 sqm.

Mr Coppini said prices could be expected to continue to climb given population increases.

“The southeast Queensland market is one of the strongest in the country, and we don’t see that changing any time soon”.