Wide Bay Burnett, Cairns and Townsville have shown strong signs of growth during the past three months, with building approvals up for three months in a row. According to the latest ABS statistics for May, Wide Bay Burnett has been the stand-out region – recording an impressive 41 per cent growth in dwelling approvals for the past three months.

Cairns and Townsville have also improved 28.1 per cent and 17.5 per cent respectively during the same time period.

Across the state, dwelling approvals are still up across the past 12 months and I am confident that detached housing will continue to grow long-term, particular given the low interest rate environment and the state government’s now $20,000 first home owners grant.

Encouragingly, the resource areas of Central Queensland and Darling Downs continue to record a positive short-term result, up 11.3 per cent and 15.2 per cent for the past three months.

However, there was no good news for Mackay which dropped back by 4.1 per cent.

Long-term, most of the growth is still in SEQ with Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Greater Brisbane all recording significant improvements for the past 12 months. The Gold Coast experienced 26.7 per cent growth for the past three months, while the Sunshine Coast and Greater Brisbane experienced 30.4 per cent and 29.4 per cent respectively.