The proposed satellite athletes village in Robina for the 2032 Olympics Game.
THERE seems to be a light shining over Queensland at the moment, the southeast in particular.
As our southern counterparts go in to round after round of Covid-19 lockdowns, for Queenslanders life is, comparatively, good.
Our property market is even better, and last week’s announcement that Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympics has only acted to strengthen that position.
While all areas of the southeast are predicted to benefit from the Games, an Olympic feasibility study conducted by Colliers pinpointed the southern beaches as the big winner for the region.
The southern beach suburbs are set to become one of the most presitgious beachside locations in Australia. Picture: Logan O’Brien
It outlined Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach and the Gold Coast airport as potential locations for urban regeneration and expansion, made accessible by Stage 4 of the light rail project along the corridor.
Anyone trying to buy along this stretch of the Coast recently knows how much house prices have risen already, with suburbs such as Currumbin and Burleigh clocking up 30 per cent annual growth.
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Just last week the biggest sale between Palm Beach and Coolangatta was achieved when a four-bedroom family home in Darwalla Avenue, Currumbin, sold for $10 million – unheard of pre-Covid 2020, but likely to become more common as we steam towards 2032.
Demand for boutique owner-occupier apartments along the beachfront is the strongest it has ever been, and is also to remain unchanged as people look for properties that offer close proximity to the beach and transport hubs.
Overall, the southern beaches region is, according to Colliers, expected to consolidate as one
Extending the light rail to Coolangatta will be crucial before the 2032 Olympics.
of the most-prestigious beachfront locations in Australia.
But what about the rest of the Coast?
One satellite suburb, for which things may change rapidly is Robina.
The suburb is earmarked as the location for an athletes’ village and has the potential to provide affordable housing solutions beyond 2032, similar to (but hopefully better than) what was achieved at Southport with the Commonwealth Games village, now known as the Smith Collective.
With an extensive shopping precinct, hospital, sports stadium, and motorway and railway links to Brisbane as well as the award-winning residential development, Vue Robina, the suburb is already on its way to becoming a burgeoning satellite hub only 15 minutes from the Coast’s most popular beaches.
Meanwhile, connectivity from the airport at Tugun to areas such as Southport and the adjoining Broadwater will benefit landlords and investors with assets in these locations, according to Colliers.
The Smith Collective, which was the athletes’ village during the Commonwealth Games is now a build-to-rent housing initiative. Picture: Jerad Williams
It would certainly go some way to boosting the profile of some lesser-known northern suburbs – although Main Beach and Sovereign Islands need no introduction when it comes buyers.
However, the predicted success of all these things is almost solely reliant one thing – the delivery of supporting infrastructure.
Colliers calls out Stage 4 of the Gold Coast Light Rail, connecting Burleigh to Coolangatta via the airport, as the absolute game-changer for the region in terms of facilitating regional growth. Yet the project has, to this point, divided the community and will sit in consultation until September.
Games or no Games, the Gold Coast has experienced a population boom since the start of Covid-19, while cities in other states have experienced a drop in numbers.
How the world sees Queensland, and the Gold Coast specifically, has changed. It is no longer considered a transient place, that tick-box on a world tour or a once a year holiday destination. It is now seen as somewhere to live and build, to work and play.
Like it or not, people are coming.
The Gold Coast needs better infrastructure to support them and, Games or no Games, what council, planners, developers and existing residents need to do now is get on with what is required to make that happen.
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