The price for a vacant plot of land in south-east Queensland rose by more than $200,000 by 2025, despite housing plots experiencing rapid shrinking inflation as demand continues to outstrip supply.
And the recent sale of a small block on the Gold Coast shows the market has gone completely mad.
The vacant 89m² plot at 29A Meron Street in Southport, smaller than the average Australian apartment, sold on January 28 for a whopping $550,000, or about $6179 per square meter.
To put that grassy plot into perspective, the average size of new apartments in 2022/2023 was just over 118 square meters, according to the latest data from the ABS and HIA.
The average Australian house size is about 230 square meters.
At 89 square meters, this vacant plot at 29A Meron St Southport could be the smallest block ever sold in Queensland
Phillis real estate agent Bailey Hyland, who marketed the block, said the seller was a Chinese land banker.
“It was record sales per square foot,” he said, adding that it was purchased by a local buyer who plans to build a house on it.
“We had about 40 interested parties, about 4,000 online views and two offers.”
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Mr Hyland said the strong interest was due to the lack of available land in Southport.
“There’s a ton of development going on in that pocket, so people want to get their hands on everything they can,” he said.
But it’s not the only Smurf-sized lot for sale in Queensland.
Small blocks with high sales prices in recent times include a vacant 197 square meter block at 15 Rusden St in Kelvin Grove for $920,000, and a 188 square meter block at 8 Lancelin Place in Maroochydore that sold for $605,000.
15 Rusden St Kelvin Grove sold for $920,000
Ray White Rochedale agent Miranda Cheng sold the Kelvin Grove block to a buyer planning to build a house.
“There was a lot of interest in that block,” she says. “I think it depends on the location as it is close to the school and there really is no choice as vacant land in Kelvin Grove is rare.”
A search on realestate.com.au shows there is currently only one other property for sale under 200 square meters – a private marina mooring on Hope Island, which retails from $150,000.
There are 52 for sale under 300 m² and 191 under the more conventional 400 m².
Exclusive data from the upcoming Oliver Hume Quarterly Market Insights report shows the size of vacant lots in southeast Queensland has increased rapidly.
In 2024, the percentage of plots of 400 square meters and less was 25 percent in Logan, Ipswich (48%), Moreton Bay (44%) and Redland (23%).
In 2025, 42 percent had an area of 400 square meters or less in Logan, Ipswich (48%), Moreton Bay (52%) and Redland (44%).
“Across much of south-east Queensland, land supply in the new land market has remained materially constrained, with unsold stock supply remaining less than a month in many locations at the end of December 2025,” the report said.
MORE NEWS: Where Brisbane and Gold Coast homebuyers are fleeing to
‘Unliveable’: what does $430,000 get you in this thriving city
FOMO Tax: Huge mistakes are made by reckless buyers
SEQ MEDIAN PARTY PRICES Oliver Hume QMI
And those who can get their hands on a block can now expect to pay $215,000 more than a year ago in Brisbane, where a vacant lot now costs $935,000, up 29.9 per cent in 12 months.
On the Gold Coast, a vacant block will set you back an average of $890,950, up 22.9 per cent in 12 months or $165,950.
SEQ ANNUAL PRICE GROWTH Oliver Hume QMI
Research from proptech company InfoTrack found that vacant land in south-east Queensland showed the strongest growth of all property types last quarter, rising to 15.1 per cent of all sales, compared to 13.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
Moreton Bay led the trend, with Morayfield the top location for vacant land sales.
“For many buyers, vacant land means flexibility,” said Lee Bailie, Chief Operating Officer of InfoTrack.
“It offers the opportunity to enter the market at a lower price and build later, especially in growth corridors that benefit from new infrastructure.”
And judging by past sales, size doesn’t always matter.
In 2023, a 125 square meter block in desirable Palm Beach sold for a whopping $750,000, or about $6,000 per square meter.
And in 2021, a suburban footpath measuring just 129 square meters was put up for sale in Caloundra West for $400,000.
This footpath at Caloundra West was initially listed for $400,000
It sold for $250,000 to an investor who planned to build a three-bedroom terrace house.
The shock sale of the fun Southport block comes after a developer paid $1.25 million for a 4m wide driveway in the Sydney suburb of Newtown at a recent auction.
The 110 m² site was listed as ‘ready for development’.
A social media post about the sale received many sharp reactions.
One user wrote: “Just stop eating broken avocado guys so you too can afford a ramp like this!” while another wrote: “LOL Australia is cooked”.
This Sydney driveway sold for $1.25 million
A 128-square-metre block in Sydney’s Dover Heights, complete with a utility and a warped trampoline, also sold for $700,000 in 2025, while a 99-square-metre block in Victoria’s Geelong West also recently sold without the price being revealed yet.
Oliver Hume chief economist Matt Bell said that, in relation to the Southport block, the Gold Coast was perhaps south-east Queensland’s least supplied corridor in terms of undeveloped land.
“People will buy small lots because they need somewhere to live and the only real solution is more land to mitigate excessive price growth,” he said.
“And without a major increase in vacant land, the problem will only get worse.
“Both overseas and interstate migration is still strong and whatever is released is selling quickly.”
Oliver Hume chief economist Matt Bell
#Tiny #Gold #Coast #block #smaller #apartment #sells #incredible #realestate.com.au