Monday 26 July 2010

'Cairns is the fastest growing region in Australia' - Filip Binst

Real estate agents are renown for talking it up, but these stats are worth repeating, from Filip Binst, manager of The Professionals real estate Cairns South.



Did you know that Cairns is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia?


Despite some of the hardships our area has been facing of late, Cairns remains a great place to live in and that is evidenced simply by the number of people that want to move here.

In a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics it was found that over 25,000 people moved to Cairns in the years between 2004 and 2009, meaning a growth of 3.8%. We even showed higher growth than popular areas such as the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

It could even be our cheaper housing that is driving the growth. The south-east corner of the state has been facing extreme demands for housing lately, and this is causing rising house prices that are simply unaffordable for most.

It could also just be that when people visit Cairns they realise the amazing lifestyle and climate that we have to offer here, and once people come here they never want to leave.


12 comments:

Jude Johnston said...

I reckon a lot of the growth between 2004 - 2009 was the number of "subbies" moving into the area for work on the explosion of apartments. These apartments were marketed to those down south and to the miners with cash in their pockets. With the Council rubber stamping any Building Application that came before them, the likes of Hedley, Glencorp, CEC, CMC bought up every available bit of land and stuck an apartment on it. With the demise of these "carpetbaggers" the subbies were left unpaid and with mortgages. How many have moved on? It will be interesting to see the statistics for 2010.
Yes we moved here for the weather and the lifestyle and we are fortunate to be employed.

Frank said...

Growth (in population) doesn’t necessarily mean good: it means more pressure on our fragile environment, which if not managed well can mean the lifestyle factors people move to Cairns for are lost. It means, for example, more pressure to build infrastructure including dams that result in the flooding of pristine rainforest (e.g. Lake Morris), more waste that needs to be disposed of (lest it pollutes the air, water and soil), more houses creeping up our hill slopes (and thus loss of native flora and fauna, not to mention beautiful vistas), more dormitory suburbs and high-rise apartments (and less sense of a neighbourly community, thus contributing to social problems), and more traffic (and thus pressure to build more roads and freeways). As much as we all want to live in Cairns, we don’t want the region to face the over-population crisis of south-east Queensland.

Jason Harrip said...

i think we all wished this translated to a stable economy also.... Cairns is in a world of pain right now.. Lets hope things improve soon..

Tom said...

Enough is enough, put a gate across the highway at Gordonvale and turn 'em back to Townsville.

Syd Walker said...

The armada of caravans from Victoria is the root cause of this crisis. We need to stop the caravans coming. Turn them round!

Will this crisis boost the FNQ Party or the Queensland Party? I guess the FNQ Party would give us border protection at the Johnson River, whereas the Queensland Party would stop the bastids at the NSW border.

A tough choice.

Paul said...

I remember the last time Real Estate was quiet in the late 90s and the papers were full of Estate Agents telling us it was all "about" to break out. If you repeat it often enough you'll inevitably be right somewhere down the track I suppose, whether it be five years, ten years...

Hingehead said...

Well I can't say I'm that impressed with the climate lately.

stinhambo said...

Cheaper housing? It's not cheap, it's still overpriced!

It may be nice up here but it's hundreds of kilometers from anywhere and our shopping experiences are led by dull high street franchises and shopping malls.

We have no cycle network, no metro/tram/rail system so you have to drive everywhere.

Housing is limited to concrete blocks with identikit layouts, restrictive and dull covenants and no community, local business incentives or connection to our surroundings.

Cairns is becoming quite dull with regards to architecture, shopping and recreation.

I love this city/town because of the natural beauty and what it could be but it needs a proper mission statement and goal for council to "move forward" with any structure.

Michael. Cairns said...

I absolutely agree with Frank and Tom. More people means decline in lifestyle - the Council's attitude (especially the previous Council) is as if we were obliged to provide for those wanting to relocate to Cairns. It's not everybody's right, it's a privilege to live in this part of the world and one simple solution would be to make the real estate unaffordable to most like it is in Sydney and other big cities. That would stop the exodus!
When we came to Cairns in the early seventies, we used to swim naked in Mossman Gorge, camp at Davies Creek (with our two dogs), no problem finding parking spot in the city .... and now? Has our standard of living gone up?

Curious said...

I've been here 20 years now, and it was a far better place to live then than now, the influx of people has done nothing for Cairns, just given us traffic jams and unemployment.

Enough is enough, we don't need or want any more people here, stay where you are.

Tom said...

"Council needs our views". Here's mine: Put a population cap over the entire CRC region. Of course, the developers of shopping centres, tower blocks and cane farm land will scream like stuck pigs. They want to continue with their unsustainable growth projects until the Far North resembles the South East. When they achieve that, who has benefitted?

Lillian at Yorkeys said...

Interesting stream. However, Stinhambo, could you desist from the "moving forward" word combo. I think we have enough of that elsewhere at present.