Queensland’s tightest rental market, the Goondiwindi region, is making a move to improve its housing supply by incentivising multi-dwelling construction.
The Goondiwindi Regional Council is rolling out a year-long rebate for all Council fees and charges associated with constructing new multi-unit dwelling buildings such as units, townhouses, duplexes, and granny flats.
The new multi-dwelling buildings include duplexes, granny flats, units, and townhouses. These must be built within areas within existing council water and sewerage infrastructure in the Goondiwindi Region.
To be eligible, the building application must be received and approved between 3 January and 31 December 2023, with construction completed and certified before 31 December 2025.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) COO Dean Milton said this move is an “exemplary way” to remove financial barriers in the housing market.
“The REIQ has been advocating for innovative ways to incentivise investors to bring more housing supply to market, both in the short and long term,” he said.
The Goondiwindi region currently had a vacancy rate of around 0.1% for the past two quarters.
Mr Milton said on top of these, the recent move by the state government to open renting granny flats to separate households also provides an opportunity to boost housing.
“Private investors are playing a really vital role, housing a significant proportion of the community, and there’s opportunity for government to do more to encourage and incentivise that,” Mr Milton said.
Meanwhile, Mr Milton said the changes in Goondiwindi is a far-cry from Logan, which will be introducing new secondary dwelling infrastructure fees from February 2023 to match the charges for auxiliary units
“Our view is that introducing new fees acts as a deterrent for property owners to bring secondary dwellings to the rental market and is contrary to the intension of the amended regulations for granny flats.”
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Photo grabbed from Goondiwindi Regional Council YouTube Video.
