‘Felt impossible’: inside the fierce competition for new homes on new land – realestate.com.au

Although Ann and Josh Sizemore could afford a newly built home, they had to play the social policy game to beat the stiff competition.

Ms Sizemore said the two had always wanted to build but had only recently found the money thanks to her growing career as a scientist.

“It felt impossible to get started,” she said. “There are so many people who have been waiting for years for a piece of land. Even we have been waiting for this for a few years… we were lucky to be allocated.”

ABS data has shown that Queensland is not meeting the necessary demand for new homes each year. The National Housing Agreement aims for 1.2 million new homes across Australia by mid-2029.

To do this, Queensland would need to build 49,200 homes every year; but last financial year there were only 38,102, and the year before that 32,976.

The Sizemores were looking for a home in the Highland Walloon project: a land development near Ipswich by Lennium Group, with more than 130 blocks of land sold to date.

Lennium Group’s land development in Highland Wallonia, where the Sizemores found a home. Queensland needs to deliver 49,200 new homes each year to meet the state’s demand, and this financial year was more than 10,000 homes short.

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But even though they did their best early in the sale to get a house they liked, the two discovered that their efforts weren’t enough.

“Even though I put down the expression of interest, the land was already gone,” Ms Sizemore said.

“There are so many people who wait and wait, and save and save, and you wait and you save [but] by the time the land arrives, the price has increased enormously.”

The couple tried different strategies to get a backup at home, such as signing up for a Lennium Group project in Northside.

“There are so many people waiting and waiting, and saving and saving… by the time the land comes, the price has gone up like crazy.” Photo: Annette Dew

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But the couple managed to sneak into the area they really wanted by maintaining a friendly relationship with the developers, and jumped at the opportunity when someone pulled out of their reservation.

“It’s really good,” she said, adding that she was “so excited” to finally leave the rental market behind.

“It will be a new community. Everything is being developed and everything is right next to you. I think it is a very good opportunity for anyone who is interested.”

The couple will now move into their new four-bedroom home, which they secured for around $720,000, at the end of 2026.

“We’re okay with living further from the city just to have a nicer, more peaceful lifestyle,” she said.