The Sunshine Coast developer moved from settlement to construction in a single day, after completing civil tenders, permits and an off-market builder sales campaign before taking ownership.
A Gympie residential development backed by Sunshine Coast investment firm RM Capital has moved from settlement to active construction in the space of 24 hours, after a pre-settlement campaign that had already locked in buyers for 80 per cent of the first stage.
RM Capital, the fund management arm of developer Rafter Myers, settled a 19.8-hectare parcel on Banks Pocket Road for $13.5 million in an off-market transaction. The site will deliver 199 residential home sites with an average size of 600 square metres, located in close proximity to the Gympie town centre.
The deal is notable not just for the scale of the site, but for how far the project had progressed before settlement day arrived.
Construction Started the Day After Settlement
Before the transaction completed, RM Developments had finalised construction permits, tendered the civil works, developed marketing materials and run an off-market builder sales campaign for Stage 1. The result: 29 lots under construction the morning after settlement, with 24 of them already pre-sold.
That kind of pre-settlement progress is not common. Most residential land projects spend months post-settlement working through the same steps RM Capital had already cleared.
The practical effect is that the investment is de-risked from day one, and the delivery timeline for future stages can be brought forward rather than waiting on approvals and sales traction to build.
The Market Behind the Move
Gympie has been on the radar of developers and investors for some time, but the numbers behind the market make the timing of this deal easier to understand.
Median house prices in Gympie have increased by an average of 15.8 per cent per year over the five years to June 2025, outpacing regional Queensland overall. Inventory sits at just over one month, and properties are spending less than three weeks on market before selling. Vacancy rates are tight at 1.15 per cent.
At the same time, affordability remains a genuine advantage compared to the Sunshine Coast and southeast Queensland more broadly. That combination of rising values, compressed supply and relative affordability is exactly the profile that underpins demand for new land releases in regional markets.
Population projections from Gympie Regional Council point to continued growth in the region, with forecasts suggesting the area will need thousands of new dwellings over the coming decades to keep pace with demand.
Who Is Behind It
RM Capital is the investment arm of Rafter Myers, a Mooloolaba-based developer co-founded by Remi Rafter and Josh Myers. Both directors served in the Australian Army before founding the business in 2017, and have built a portfolio of residential, commercial and industrial projects across the Sunshine Coast and surrounding regions.
The Gympie land deal is one of six properties the firm has recently settled across the region, with a combined value of close to $40 million. Other acquisitions include industrial land in Cooroy and Beerwah, a retail corner block in Mooloolaba and a development site in Maleny.
RM Capital established separate investment funds for each project. All six were reportedly fully subscribed within days of being offered to investors.
What This Means for Builders
For builders operating in regional Queensland, this kind of development activity signals genuine pipeline opportunity, but the entry bar is shifting.
The off-market builder sales campaign that pre-sold Stage 1 was not a public tender. Builders who already had relationships with the developer were well positioned. Those who were not on the radar were not in the room.
Regional markets like Gympie are increasingly attracting professional development operators who move quickly and run tight pre-settlement processes. For builders looking to participate in that pipeline, having established commercial relationships with developers, not just individual clients, is becoming more important.
The other practical implication is volume. A 199-lot project delivered in stages over several years represents sustained, predictable workflow for the builders involved. In a market where many operators are still managing the tail of an unpredictable few years, that kind of certainty has real value.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should seek independent advice before making any investment or business decisions.
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