SUNRAYSIA’S booming property market could come to a screeching halt in the next two years unless more land is urgently opened up for residential development, a long-time developer has warned.
Bob Faulkhead, who has been a property developer in the region for the past four decades, has warned that a “correction” will come in the market later this year and called for Mildura and Wentworth town planners to rezone land “without delay”.
“All of the (residential) zoned land has already been picked up by developers in Mildura, in particular, as well as Irymple,” he told Sunraysia Daily.
“So we may finish up stagnated in as soon as two years’ time.”
Mr Faulkhead said the “alternative development options aren’t really out there anymore”.
“But when Wentworth Shire get the necessary infrastructure in place over at Gol Gol, it could really boom there.
“This includes drainage and sewer and getting other infrastructure right, and with the land they have available there, it could really take off in two to three years’ time.
“Mildura Council need to get their zoning reviews done to push out more land on Seventeenth Street, and between Deakin Avenue and Seventeenth Street, as well as Sixteenth Street.
“All of that land would get gobbled up very quickly.”
The council is working on a number of planning strategies, including for Irymple, after failing to hit its population targets in the growth corridor of Mildura South, Irymple and Nichols Point over the past five years.
It is now proposing to make changes to the Mildura Planning Scheme to meet the demands in these suburbs for further infrastructure and housing growth.
Mr Faulkhead predicts the “next rising star” in the region’s property market will be Red Cliffs.
“Irymple is already a big star and it’s joining up with Mildura,” he said.
“Land in Irymple is selling like hotcakes, so all of a sudden there’s going to be no zoned land for housing.
“I’ve been developing land here since 1980 and this has already happened to us on two or three occasions before with the council and water board struggling to keep up because of our growth.
“It’s not necessarily the fault of anyone, but it’s a case of having people continually working on these planning issues, not taking ad hoc approaches when they realise there is already a problem, like we have now.”
He said the council should be “well placed” to build more infrastructure because “the development charges are now getting up to around $12,000 a block”.
“There really is an opportunity for us to keep growing,” Mr Faulkhead said. “But if we stop it, it’s pretty hard to get it started again.
“Land development takes you two to three years to get the momentum going, so it’s as critical as that.”
