27/09/2026
It is very important to understand how land banking is affecting the housing supply & costs in SEQ. This is a great read.
🏡🌳 BEFORE THEY DECIDE TO CLEAR WOOGAROO FOREST, LET’S TALK ABOUT LAND BANKING
We are repeatedly told that irreplaceable native habitat must be sacrificed because South East Queensland urgently needs more housing.
But is a shortage of approved land really the whole story?
In 2022, independent economic think tank Prosper Australia examined land supply and sales across nine major master-planned communities, including Greater Springfield.
Based on data extending to January 2020, its Springfield case study found:
▪️ 1,442 hectares had been approved for residential use
▪️ The master plan had an estimated capacity of 43,125 housing lots
▪️ After 19.1 years, Prosper estimated that 77.24% of the land bank remained
▪️ The average rate of sales was only 25% of the peak rate
▪️ At its slowest, the sales rate fell to just 4% of the peak
▪️ Land prices had increased by an average of 8.1% per year above inflation
▪️ At the observed rate, the development was projected to take approximately 84 years to reach its full supply quota
Prosper described Springfield’s supply pattern as an “aggressive scarcity trap” that preserved returns by restricting the rate at which approved land reached the market.
Across all nine developments it examined, Prosper found that fewer than one-quarter of approximately 110,000 approved sites had been sold. It estimated that staged releases had contributed $5.9 billion in additional housing costs.
To be clear, the report examined the wider Springfield master-planned development and included land delivered by multiple developers. It did not investigate the current Cherish Enterprises proposal or make a finding that Cherish itself was land banking.
Cherish Enterprises is the private landholder and proponent behind Springview Villages 2 and 3. This is the largest of the four developments threatening Woogaroo Forest and would cut into the very heart of this connected ecological system.
Stockland has not yet purchased the land, but reportedly holds pre-emptive rights under a multimillion-dollar agreement to buy and develop it, meaning Stockland’s involvement remains prospective.
The Prosper report nevertheless raises a question that governments must answer before approving the destruction of Woogaroo Forest:
If tens of thousands of residential lots have already been approved across Greater Springfield, why must another 450 hectares of irreplaceable native habitat be placed at risk in the name of housing supply?
The public deserves:
▪️ A transparent audit of approved but undeveloped residential land across Greater Springfield
▪️ Disclosure of who controls that land and when it is expected to be released
▪️ Evidence showing how quickly existing approvals have translated into completed homes
▪️ A cumulative assessment of all four developments threatening Woogaroo Forest
▪️ Proof that destroying this habitat is genuinely necessary, rather than creating another long-term land bank
Housing affordability will not be solved simply by rezoning and clearing more land if existing approved supply can be released slowly over decades.
We should not be forced into a false choice between homes and habitat.
Before another tree falls, show us the numbers.
Read Prosper Australia’s report, Staged Releases: Peering Behind the Land Supply Curtain:
https://www.prosper.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Staged-Releases-Prosper-Australia-web22.pdf
