Logan City Council says developers are failing to pay their fair share of infrastructure costs in new housing areas, warning that further expansion of small-lot estates on the city’s fringe risks shifting the burden onto ratepayers during a cost-of-living crisis. 🏗️
The comments come amid criticism from the Housing Industry Association (HIA), which argues minimum lot size restrictions imposed by councils are slowing housing supply and worsening affordability pressures across the country.
Logan Mayor Jon Raven said greenfield developments — particularly those built on smaller suburban blocks — were expensive to service and often left councils covering the gap between infrastructure charges and the true cost of roads, drainage and essential services.
“Green field development is the most expensive to service due to the shortfall in infrastructure charges,” Cr Raven said.
“Those developers barely pay half the cost of delivering trunk infrastructure, which means ratepayers are subsidising their profits. That simply isn’t fair during a cost of living crisis.”
Instead, he said the industry should prioritise higher-density infill housing near existing transport links, employment centres and shopping precincts.
“The industry needs to focus on higher density infill development – like units that are already near existing infrastructure, public transport and shopping centres – to reduce the cost of housing and the burden on ratepayers,” he said.
“Small lot green field development is not the solution to the housing crisis; it just shifts costs to ratepayers while developers’ margins are protected.”
The HIA, however, says planning controls such as minimum lot sizes are among the simplest barriers governments could remove to increase housing supply quickly.
“Governments are setting housing targets with one hand and shutting down supply with the other,” HIA Executive Director Planning and Development Sam Heckel said.
HIA modelling suggests reducing minimum lot sizes from 500 square metres to 300 square metres could lower the land component of a new home by more than $200,000, providing immediate relief for first-home buyers and downsizers.
The association also estimates up to 80% of residential land in many cities remains locked into low-density zoning that effectively prevents subdivision.
A Logan City Council spokesperson said the city had already introduced a 300 square metre minimum lot size in designated small-lot precincts in 2023 to help deliver homes sooner and more affordably — a move now being promoted by the HIA as a model for other councils.
“Logan continues to do the heavy lifting when it comes to delivering new homes for Queenslanders,” the spokesperson said.
The city recorded a record 4,275 new dwellings in 2024 and consistently delivers more than 4,000 homes each year, just shy of targets set by the Queensland Government. To meet its long-term housing target of 235,900 dwellings by 2046, about 4,500 homes would need to be added annually for the next two decades.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Logan’s population is growing at 3.1 per cent a year, with the third-highest rate of internal migration in the country, increasing pressure on housing supply.
Council also estimates more than 8,500 broad hectares of residential land remain available for development in Logan — about 10 per cent of Queensland’s total supply — and says its draft Logan Plan will support a broader mix of housing types, including terrace housing on lots as small as 120 square metres in appropriate locations.
Cr Raven said the development industry needed to rethink its approach.
“The industry needs to stop building like it’s still the 1990s and find products that are more affordable for buyers while using existing infrastructure and services, instead of passing the buck onto ratepayers and taxpayers,” he said.
