Construction has begun on an affordable housing development that offers more than 220 blocks for homeowners; with a special $20,000 grant for essential workers who get on board.
Villawood Properties has officially started work on ‘Baya’ — a $250m development in Southern Redland Bay, offering 224 lots of land for Queenslanders to build new homes.
Villawood’s Care Worker Support Program is offering an automatic grant of $20,000 for care workers, such as emergency staff, nurses, and teachers, to afford the available lots.
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An aerial render of Villawood Properties’ new Redland Bay community, ‘Baya’, now under construction.
Villawood Properties CEO Alan Miller said an important part of this development was giving care workers access to affordable homes at a reasonable distance.
“The whole issue is the whole of southeast Queensland is pretty unsupplied with housing options,” he said. “Getting people into housing in locations where they work is really the most important thing.”
The program has been taken advantage of by more than 400 care workers across Australia, including in Villawood’s Beaudesert community, ‘Eucalee’.
The project is set to bring 224 lots of land for homeowners, with care workers receiving a $20,000 grant to get into the housing market with them.
Redland Bay’s hospital is currently receiving a $300 million expansion, and Mr Miller said these changes factored into why they picked the area.
“We targeted [Redland Bay] because it’s a major growth corridor in Queensland,” he said. “Very strong demand and supply was very restricted – we thought we could bring something to the market that other developers weren’t bringing.”
Press photos for Baya’s launch, with several Villawood executives and Redlands MP Rebecca Young.
Stage one has now launched, expected to be complete within 18 months.
Lots ranging from 358 to 1184 sqm are on offer to Queenslanders, with more than a thousand people having already registered their interest.
“We’ve had a huge response, not just from care workers but from everyone in all parts of the market,” Mr Miller said. “What we’re looking to do is see how we can keep those prices down.”
Sales will be released over seven stages, with the project’s first homeowners expected to move in within 18 months.
Residences will move into a spot near both the ocean and 1000 hectares of conservation area, and will have around 1.8 hectares of green space to share within the project itself.
Stage one lots begin at $489,000, with the project expected to have seven stages before selling out.
The project’s full three-year development will give Queenslanders more than 700 jobs across building, administration and landscaping industries.
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