40.1 Ha
or 401, 000 m2!

$40,000 inc GST per block undeveloped. No need for curb & channel in development.
Underground power is a possibility.

Take this opportunity to developed in one of Qld’s Top Hot Spots. Information below is taken from www.hotspotting.com.au:

Gatton Lockyer Valley, about 90km west of Brisbane

Key Influences: Boom Towns, Government Decisions

$500 million prisons facility; upgrade of Ipswich Motorway; University of Queensland campus (new veterinary school in planning); strong economy based on agriculture and education; $300 million residential estate.

Having a major prison next door is generally not something that delights a town’s residents.

But when government decides to spend $500 million creating a facility that will employ over 1,700 people in a town of 8,000, the economic and property benefits are inescapable.

Gatton, a country town in the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane, faces the prospect of having its population almost double as a result of a single project. The Queensland State Government announced late in 2006 that Gatton was the chosen location for the purchase of 680 hectares on which to build, eventually, five separate prison facilities. The first phase of this major undertaking will see a 300-bed women’s prison and a 500-bed men’s prison constructed at a cost of about $500 million and scheduled to be operational in 2010 or 2011. Other facilities will follow and by 2016 the site will have five correctional facilities and 3,000 inmates.

Within three years the facility will provide 380 staff jobs and ultimately, when all the proposed facilities are built, there will be 1,750 working there. If the typical employee has a partner and two kids, this will add 7,000 people to the area’s population. Other businesses will spring off the new complex, creating further jobs and new residents.

Gatton, with a town population of 8,000, could almost double in size because of this government decision. Neighbouring towns like Laidley and Esk may also benefit, and larger centres such as Toowoomba (30 minutes away) and Ipswich may experience some real estate impact from the influx of workers.

Presumably there will also be a considerable number of construction jobs once work starts in 2008. The complex will be built 15km from the town centre, away from view along the Warrego Highway, and the bulk of the site will comprise a buffer zone.

In December 2007, developer Consolidated Properties announced plans for a $300 million residential subdivision in response to the upcoming surge in population. The developer paid $17 million for a 355-hectare site and will develop 2,200 lots over 20 years. The Toowoomba Chronicle reported: “Woodlands Rise will effectively double the size of Gatton.”

Gatton was already a healthy rural community, with an economy based on agriculture and a university campus, prior to this decision. Gatton is the main town in the Lockyer Valley, which is blessed with rich soil and has evolved into a major source of vegetables for South East Queensland. The town centre – tidy, nicely landscaped and busy – reflects a prosperous rural centre.

The town also has a significant campus of the University of Queensland, a facility which was previously known as the Queensland Agricultural College. UQ Gatton offers courses in agribusiness, agriculture, animal studies, environmental management and horticulture. The campus website says: “Graduates of UQ Gatton include a Deputy Prime Minister, state premiers and ministers, a Rhodes Scholar and many distinguished industry leaders.”

A new Veterinary School is planned for the university campus, which will bring in more students and increase pressure on local rental accommodation.

Other major employers in the area include
- Nolan’s Transport,
- Pohlmans Nursey and
- Helidon Explosives.

The decision to build the prison complex there gives the town three major pistons driving its economy and fuelling demand in its property market: agriculture, education and the correctional facility.

Not many rural centres have that degree of economic diversity.

Before the announcement of the prisons project, Gatton had been through a phase in which its property values more than doubled in five years – but it still had a median house price at the end of 2007 of well under $250,000.

The median house price rose from $88,000 in 2001 to about $205,000 at the end of 2006, an average annual increase of 18.5%. According to Australian Property Monitors, the median house price last year was $230,000. Values are moving quickly following the announcement of the government project and the news early in 2007 that negotiations had started with landowners for the amalgamation of the 680 hectares the State Government needs for its facility.

Rhonda McLucas of Gatton Real Estate says there are still houses sold in the low $200,000s,
but it’s difficult now to find much for sale under $250,000. She says there has been a lot of inquiry from investors around Australia and from people who work in the prisons industry.

The Sunday Mail reported in September 2007: “Queensland’s newest correctional facility is transforming the sleepy town of Gatton into a goldfield – ripe for fossicking. Gatton locals are ready to welcome their new neighbours, excited by the prospect of an economic boom.

Few people are more welcoming than Gatton Mayor Steve Jones. The straight-shooting Cr Jones unashamedly admits the prison has been a major money-spinner for Gatton.

“The State Government will inject $15 million into community infrastructure in the next 18 months and it’s a trade-off which has converted even the most earnest prison sceptics. The result of the debate and bargain process was a $7.5 million library, art gallery and truck museum; a 50-metre heated swimming pool; and a combined emergency services complex.”

Cr Jones says: “All of a sudden, people are interested in the town.
We’ve had inquiries from light industry interested in relocating and in an average week I’d get 15 to 20 calls from people wanting to bring everything from hotels to shopping centres to Gatton.”

Gatton is the principal town of Gatton Shire, which has a population of about 17,000. The council elections of 15 March 2008 herald its merger with Laidley Shire to create the Lockyer Valley Regional Council.

It sits on the Warrego Highway which links Ipswich City, southwest of Brisbane, with the city of Toowoomba. There is also a rail link between the two cities.
It’s a place with an extensive history, being one of Queensland’s earliest European settlements and originally gazetted as a village in 1855 (it was named after a town in Scotland). The
walkabout.com.au website says:“Today Gatton lies in the heart of a rich farming area where the fertile black soils provide huge crops of potatoes, onions and vegetables for the Brisbane markets.
The area is also known for its beef and dairy industries.”

The council website says: “Gatton is a beautiful, productive part of South East Queensland encompassing some of the richest farming land in Australia. The shire is characterized by a beautiful backdrop of steep hills and mountains of the Great Dividing Range.“Increasing numbers of people are making the trip to Gatton for special events such as the
Clydesdale and Heavy Horse Field Days weekend, Gatton Street Sprints and the Motorcycle Swap Meet.”

Other attractions include the heritage-listed Spring Bluff Railway Station, the Gatton Shire Davson Art Gallery and Lake Apex (a park which contains the Visitor Information Centre and Cafe, the Gatton Historical Village and a variety of community leisure facilities, including BMX track, skate ramp and children’s playground).

It presents demographically as a fairly typical Australian country town. Nine out of ten residents are Australian-born and most of the rest were born in the UK or New Zealand. The age group statistics are almost exactly in line with Queensland averages.

Nine out of ten dwellings are standalone houses, 45% of households own their homes outright (which is above average for Queensland) and about a quarter rent.

The Wikipedia online encyclopedia says: “Over recent years, the rural tranquility of Gatton Shire has started to be encroached on by the suburban sprawl of metropolitan Brisbane and Ipswich in the east and Toowoomba in the west. The Warrego Highway, which runs east-west through the Shire, has also experienced increasing strip development, with fuel outlets and commercial properties gradually spreading along the highway.”

Mayor Jones had predicted that 2008 will be “the turning point for the town’s future”, with last year having set up the town for multiple opportunities from the prison, the expand university campus and the new residential estate.

As Gatton prices rise, which seems inevitable, investors may want to consider nearby Laidley where typical prices are currently lower than Gatton’s.
This is despite 24% average annual growth in the town’s median price between 2001 and 2006 – and 38% annual growth in land prices.

Australian Property Monitors gives Laidley a 2007 median price of $210,000, compared with $230,000 (and rising) in Gatton.

Please ring Quy Early for more information 0420 988 751.

Other information we can email you:
1. DA approval paperwork.
2. market analysis of land in the area

Look forward to hearing from you!