Securing land in Queensland’s highly sought after South East corner seems to be akin to finding a park at Suncorp Stadium on Game Day. 

Queensland and New South Wales State Manager of OpenLot.com.au Con Sgouros, an online land marketplace said Queensland is one of the toughest markets for supply in the country.

“There’s not much land there at the moment, and when a lot comes up, snap, it’s gone,” Mr Sgouros said.

The Good Builder spoke to builders who are having success and went through their strategies. 

Build relationships

The Acquisition Manager at Avia Homes, Brook Anstey said you need to put in the hard yards over a long period of time to get the best results.

“We build relationships with developers and land sales agents, and with constant contact and interactions we try to secure exclusive lots or put and call lots,” Mr Anstey said.

“As a predominantly Owner Occupier builder we tend to get preference over other builders when lots are released. 

“We also package up any available stock on a daily basis.”

But even with the best relations Anstey said it’s a challenging market with most land selling as soon as it’s released.

“Developers going to their databases first, and then to builders for allocations, which are rare. 

“Terms are also very strict with many land developers demanding high deposits, unconditional contracts and Owner Occupiers only – and any land sub $400,000 is selling extremely quickly.”

Target blocks that others avoid

Founder of the Ultra Group on the Gold Coast Peter Nastrom said you need to understand the type of land you want to chase down.

“We’ve found the last 12 months extremely difficult to get land.”

“The most successful strategies that our sales team use to get access to land is to go after the low to middle tier developments which are under-represented, and not on the shopping lists of the major players,” Mr Nastrom said.

“We try to intentionally target land with between one and two metres of cross fall at estates with a small proportion of sloping sites, but they also have flat sites. 

And we go to the land agents and we, completely free of charge, work up some build solutions that make their point of sale enquiries easy to convert.”

“Because the feedback I’ve been given over the last eight years is that it’s extremely challenging to convert, so we go into land agents and offer them solutions.”

“So, we toolkit them up to make it easier for them to sell land, and we just get referrals from them for that because we become the biggest advocates for the land. “

What would make the biggest difference to land availability?

Anstey said governments need to cut the red tape so builders can get on with the job of building homes.

“We need councils and the state govt to remove red tape to reduce approval times on getting land to market. Also, the utilities providers of water and electricity need to be much more proactive in getting those services to site.”

“Government bureaucracy and red tape is holding it all back, causing a lack of land supply which ultimately just pushes home prices up.”

Outlook for more land

Anstey said 2024 was a very tough year for land availability, but he’s hopeful that’s about to change for the better.

“2025 should see some easing with developers releasing more stock to market, and 2026 should see land supply revert back to a more balanced supply and demand dynamic.”