Two different housing numbers are circulating for the same document. Only one of them is the target councils will actually be held to.

Queensland has released the draft North Queensland Regional Plan and Infrastructure Plan 2026 for public consultation. It sets a minimum dwelling supply target of 20,651 net additional homes across the region by 2046, and it asks Townsville to lift housing delivery by around 500 dwellings a year to about 1,200 a year. The draft was gazetted on 18 August 2026 and submissions close at 11.59pm on Tuesday 29 September 2026.

That 20,651 figure is the number local governments have to plan for. It is worth stating clearly at the outset, because the figure attached to the public announcement is a different one.

What the draft plan actually commits councils to

The draft covers five local government areas: Burdekin Shire, Charters Towers Regional, Hinchinbrook Shire, Palm Island Aboriginal Shire and Townsville City.

Table 1 of the plan sets a minimum dwelling supply target for each, measured against a 2021 base of 100,984 existing dwellings across the region.

• Burdekin: 442 net additional homes, taking the total to 8,285
• Charters Towers: 196, taking the total to 5,564
• Hinchinbrook: 199, taking the total to 5,821
• Palm Island: 153, taking the total to 670
• Townsville: 19,661, taking the total to 101,295

Across the region that is 20,651 net additional homes by 2046, for a total dwelling supply target of 121,635.

The plan is explicit that these are minimums. Local governments may plan above them. The targets set the capacity that planning schemes must be able to accommodate through zoning, built form and lot sizes. They are not a construction commitment, and the plan says so directly.

Structurally the draft follows the template now being applied statewide, including in the first comprehensive review of the South East Queensland plan in more than a decade. North Queensland is the third region to reach draft stage, after Far North Queensland and Wide Bay Burnett.

The number in the announcement is not the number in the plan

The figure the government has led with publicly is around 26,700 new homes by 2046, described as roughly 1,335 homes a year. The plan itself uses 20,651.

Both numbers are real. They come from different series of the same Queensland Government Statistician’s Office projections.

Schedule 1 sets out the detail. Under the medium series, the region reaches 121,635 dwellings by 2046. Under the high series it reaches 127,711. Subtract the 2021 base of 100,984 and you get 20,651 and 26,727 respectively.

Schedule 3 then states the methodology plainly. For the purposes of all regional plans, the medium series is the baseline scenario. That is the number carried into Table 1.

The announcement figure is the high series outcome. The statutory target inside the plan is the medium series outcome. The gap is roughly 6,000 homes, or about 29 per cent.

This is not unique to North Queensland. The Far North Queensland plan publishes a range of between 34,455 and 48,485 new homes by 2046, and the announcement for that region led with the top of the range.

For builders the distinction matters for one reason. Councils will be assessed against 20,651. Planning schemes will be written to deliver capacity for 20,651. If demand tracks closer to the high series, the land supply framework has not been sized for it.

Townsville carries 95 per cent of the region’s housing task

Townsville’s 19,661 homes represent 95.2 per cent of the regional target. The plan describes the city as accounting for approximately 96 per cent of projected regional growth.

Proportionally the picture shifts slightly. Townsville is planning for growth of about 24 per cent on its 2021 dwelling stock between 2021 and 2046. Palm Island, from a base of 517 dwellings, is planning for close to 30 per cent, the highest rate in the region despite the small absolute number.

The three agricultural shires are planning for very little. Burdekin sits at 5.6 per cent growth on its existing stock, Charters Towers at 3.7 per cent and Hinchinbrook at 3.5 per cent.

For builders and trades operating outside Townsville, that is a clear signal about where the planning framework expects residential work to be. It does not mean nothing gets built in Ingham or Ayr. It does mean the strategic framework is not sizing those markets for growth.

The delivery gap is the real story for builders

The most useful numbers in the draft are not the targets. They are the delivery aims the plan sets for Townsville over the next few years.

• Increase the rate of housing delivery by around 500 new dwellings a year, to around 1,200 a year
• Increase the share of new housing delivered as infill from less than 5 per cent to around 10 per cent
• Maintain Townsville’s affordability advantage relative to capital city markets

The first is the one to sit with. An increase of 500 dwellings on a target of 1,200 implies a current delivery rate somewhere near 700 a year. On those figures that is a lift of roughly 70 per cent in annual output, and it is being asked of a regional market rather than a capital city.

The plan is candid about the shape of what is currently being built. Over the past decade, attached and detached dwelling delivery in Townsville has run at approximately 5 per cent and 95 per cent respectively, overwhelmingly in greenfield development fronts. The plan expects greenfield to keep carrying most of the load while infill lifts at the margin.

Doubling the infill share to around 10 per cent is modest by south east Queensland standards. It is still a meaningful change for a market that has built detached housing on new land for a decade.

Infrastructure sits inside the plan for the first time

For the first time in a North Queensland regional plan, the infrastructure plan is included as an appendix to the regional plan rather than published separately. The intent is to plan transport, water, energy, digital connectivity, and social and community infrastructure alongside land use rather than after it.

The draft identifies three growth fronts around Townsville: the northern beaches, the west and the south. Each is described as carrying distinct servicing and access constraints requiring coordinated resolution, and the plan commits to sequencing that prioritises optimising existing networks before extending them.

That framing is worth taking seriously, because it names the constraint builders in the region already live with. Approved land that cannot be serviced does not produce homes. The Residential Activation Fund has been the state’s main tool for clearing those blockages, and the draft references it directly as the mechanism unlocking land supply across the region. Townsville has already drawn on it, including trunk road funding for the northern beaches growth front.

Whether embedding infrastructure inside the plan changes sequencing on the ground is the open question. A plan that lists infrastructure priorities is useful. A plan that funds and stages them is the one that shortens the path from approved land to a buildable block.

What the government and local leaders have said

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jarrod Bleijie said the draft provides certainty for councils, industry and the community, and framed the process as resetting the planning partnership with local government by giving councils a genuine voice in shaping their region.

Member for Burdekin Dale Last said protecting productive agricultural land must remain a priority as the region grows. Member for Townsville Adam Baillie said the draft would help ensure housing, infrastructure and jobs are planned together. Member for Mundingburra Janelle Poole said housing growth needs to be matched by the infrastructure and services families rely on. Member for Thuringowa Natalie Marr said new homes need to arrive alongside roads, water, transport, schools and open space. Member for Hinchinbrook Wayde Chiesa said the framework should protect the region’s economic strengths while creating opportunities for investment, jobs and housing.

Charters Towers Mayor and North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils chair Liz Schmidt said good regional planning means housing, jobs and infrastructure are planned together so communities stay liveable and economically strong, and encouraged councils, industry and community members to review the draft. Townsville Mayor Nick Dametto encouraged residents to take part in the consultation process.

The draft forms part of a $31.316 million commitment, funded in the 2025 to 2026 state budget, to deliver 13 new regional plans across Queensland within four years.

What this means for builders and trades

Three practical points.

The target is a capacity number, not a pipeline

Planning schemes will be required to zone for at least 20,651 homes. Whether those homes get built depends on land release, servicing, finance and demand. Read the target as the ceiling the framework permits, not a floor it guarantees.

The Townsville delivery aim is what to plan capacity against

If the region moves toward 1,200 dwellings a year, that is a material increase in demand for trades, supervisors, suppliers and civil contractors in a market that has been running well below it. Builders who want a share of that work will want labour arrangements and supply relationships settled before the volume arrives rather than after. It is also worth noting that approvals growth across Queensland has been highly uneven, so regional averages can hide a lot of variation at the suburb level.

The infill shift is a product question

Moving from under 5 per cent to around 10 per cent infill and attached housing means a different build type, different approvals, different trades and different margins. Builders whose systems are built entirely around detached greenfield product have time to prepare, but the direction of travel is now written into a draft statutory instrument.

For businesses outside Townsville, the honest read is that the framework does not size Burdekin, Charters Towers or Hinchinbrook for meaningful residential growth. Work in those shires is more likely to be driven by replacement, agriculture, worker accommodation and industry than by new household formation.

The Good Builder Take

Two numbers are circulating for the same plan. The one in the announcement is about 26,700. The one councils will actually be held to is 20,651. Both are defensible. They simply come from different projection series, and the plan is clear that the medium series is its baseline. Know which number you are looking at before you build a business case on it.

The figure that deserves more attention than either is 1,200. That is what the plan wants Townsville delivering each year, and the plan itself says that requires an increase of around 500 a year. A lift of that size is not really a planning problem. It is a capacity problem, and it lands on builders, trades and suppliers.

The consultation window is genuinely useful here. If servicing or access constraints in the northern, western or southern growth fronts are holding your projects up, a properly made submission puts that on the record while the document is still a draft. Once it is finalised, the framework sets the rules for two decades.

How to have your say, and the dates that matter

Submissions close at 11.59pm on Tuesday 29 September 2026.

To be formally considered, a submission must be properly made under the Planning Act 2016. That means it must be addressed to the Deputy Premier, include the name and address of each person making it, be in writing and signed if not lodged electronically, state the grounds and the facts relied on, and be lodged inside the consultation period. The department’s online survey handles those requirements automatically. Submissions can also be emailed to [email protected] or posted to PO Box 15009, City East QLD 4002.

The department is running face to face talk to a planner sessions across the region. Registration is not required and there are no presentations, so attendees can arrive at any point during the listed times.

• Hinchinbrook: Monday 7 September, TYTO Conference and Events Centre, 73 McIlwraith Street, Ingham, 10am to 1pm
• Townsville: Tuesday 8 September, venue to be confirmed
• Burdekin: Wednesday 9 September, Sandhills Room, Burdekin Neighbourhood Centre, 40 Chippendale Street, Ayr, 11am to 2pm
• Charters Towers: Thursday 10 September, venue to be confirmed

Online sessions run via Microsoft Teams from 1 to 3 September and from 15 to 17 September 2026. Speaking with a planner is not a submission, and posts on the department’s online ideas board are considered during finalisation but are not properly made submissions either. Anyone who wants their position formally on the record needs to lodge through the portal, by email or by post.

Frequently asked questions

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Last updated: 18 August 2026. Figures in this article are drawn from the draft North Queensland Regional Plan and Infrastructure Plan 2026 as published by the Queensland Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. This article is general information for the construction industry and does not constitute planning, legal or financial guidance. Builders and developers should confirm current planning requirements with the department or a qualified planning professional before making project decisions.

Author: TGB Editorial