New research revealing that it is $200,000 cheaper to build a new home on the Gold Coast than it is to buy an existing one raises questions of sustainability.

The area is one of the cheapest in which to build a new house, according to data from the Master Builders Association.

The average cost to build a 200sqm, brick veneer home with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a double lock-up garage is just $304,721 — a price tag that includes land.

This cost is cheaper than building in Brisbane, Toowooma and the Sunshine Coast. It is also 15 per cent lower than building the same house in the most expensive location, Cairns.

However, the research found the Gold Coast is also one of the most expensive locations in which to buy an existing home, with an established house price of $504,000.

The news that it is $200,000 cheaper to build a new home than to buy an existing property on the Gold Coast raises questions of sustainability and “flies in the face” of what developers are saying about the difficulty of finding new sites, the Australian Institute of Architects’ Queensland chapter president, Bruce Medek, said.

It was now “fundamental” for the region to arrest suburban sprawl, Medek told Architecture & Design.

“It is fundamental for us to start thinking about how we’re housing people rather than continuing to throw our cities even wider.

We have a situation now where the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast are almost a conjoined strip,” he said.

However, the parochial views help by local councils in the region was holding back progress, he said. Councils needed to join forces and “start thinking in a regional rather than a local way”, Medek said.

Gemma Battenbough

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