Home building approvals up 75%

Developer Clive Berghofers 52-block housing estate on the corner of Tarlington and Ramsay Sts in Middle Ridge is set to hit the market in the next fortnight.

DAVE NOONAN

TOOWOOMBA has been riding in the fast lane of Australia's two-speed economy, with home building approvals up 75% year-on-year in the three months to April.

Housing Industry Association Queensland executive director Warwick Temby said the figures were directly linked to the city's proximity to major resource developments in the Surat Basin.

He said the boost represented a return to health for the housing industry after "very depressed levels of last year for the state as a whole".

"Home building approvals are up 75% in Toowoomba, 83% in Rockhampton and 84% in Gladstone on the same period in 2011," he said.

"This is a direct result of the massive investment that is taking place in the resources sector."

Developer Clive Berghofer warned land sales had slowed in recent months.

Of the 65 new Highfields housing blocks he put on the market in January, 58 were sold before the State Government's $10,000 building boost grant expired on April 30.

"Inquiries have come to a stop since then," he said.

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Home building approvals up 75%