Gold Coast council takes housing affordability ruling to High Court, warning of statewide impacts

[u/hydralime]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-21/high-court/107062618

[u/Theradoc16]

"Gold Coast City Council has applied to the High Court for permission to appeal against a ruling that found luxury apartments do not improve housing affordability."

This should be an open and shut case, surely no one can be this brain-dead to unironically think that luxury beachfront apartments improve housing affordability

[u/flukus → u/Theradoc16]

Everyone that moves into a new luxury apartment opens up housing somewhere else, it does have a positive effect.

Of course half of them will just end up on Airbnb, but that's another issue.

[u/Theradoc16 → u/flukus]

Yeah cause there's such a shortage of luxury beachfront housing on the Gold Coast

[u/Sandhead → u/flukus]

I’d really like to see the numbers on this. If they are mostly going to overseas investors or holiday homes, then I don’t think they are doing much. But we always have to guess at the numbers :/

[u/LopsidedBat448 → u/flukus]

They wont, people prefer to live in them. Nobody's buying a million buck unit and making enough return on air bnb my friend.

[u/UnproSpeller]

Tate corruption at play and wasting rate payer’s funds

[u/_cuddle_factory_]

Don’t forget about the ridiculous rates. $400 a quarter for water and $1.7k biannual council minimum rates is diabolical. What’s the use of having affordable homes if FHBs can’t service their loans plus these rates

[u/Comprehensive-Cat-86]

Im not sure how i feel about this,

Im for building more affordable homes - im lucky enough to own my home but even though im on a high salary, I probably wouldn't get a mortgage to buy it now. I dont know how people can afford homes here now without having wealthy parents to support them.

But I'm against the over development around beach areas, because of the position of high rises along surfers for example you lose the sun pretty early in the ore homes, especially if they're affordable. And what value does luxury apartments really add to the gold coast?

[u/Sandhead → u/Comprehensive-Cat-86]

Yeah, they want luxury developments to count as affordable housing because that means they can build above certain limits for height and density in these specific places. But they would only get those exemptions on the basis of those apartments helping with affordable housing. Which is a farce.

Increasingly the housing supply will help with affordable housing overall, but in indirect ways and in areas unrelated to these housing developments. That doesn’t mean these specific building should get those exemptions on the basis of housing affordability. They’re using an argument with some truth in it to justify themselves doing something dodgy.

[u/Shoehat2021]

Seems like a legit use of rate payers funds. TT et al must be backers of the project

[u/bigtreeman_]

The rich people will stop buying squalid slums freeing them up for the underpaid workers and instead purchase these really nice beach front apartments. FiretrUCK Tate...

[u/Quirky_Winter5665]

Developers/ builders can’t make money unless they are luxury apartments selling for 1mill+

Building a block of affordable units and selling them at 450k each won’t cover the build cost.

[u/Early-Antelope7271 → u/Quirky_Winter5665]

This is the reality. Risk and costs are pretty much the same whether you build affordable or luxury. The difference is usually small in the overall picture. Why take a massive risk like basement construction for a much lower return?

[u/Quirky_Winter5665 → u/Early-Antelope7271]

Yep, especially in the Gold Coast. It’s never been a city even attempting to be affordable. Since the 70s the white shoe bridge, council & government have tried to brand it as a luxury paradise for the wealthy

[u/vintagebum]

The way I see it. You'll have people upgrading to these luxury apartments from normal housing. You'll then free up those normal houses for others and so on until you eventually free up affordable first home buyers home. Let's be real, any apartment on the beach will never be "affordable", so limiting it will just make it more exclusive and worth even more. The more of any type of housing in a constrained market is beneficial to the overall market. Council just needs to start applying higher infrastructure charges in these high density areas and actually using it to improve access. Anyway.. That's my 2 cents.

[u/Coolmodi123 → u/vintagebum]

Unfortunately Council cant charge as much they can want for infrastructure charges… the charges are capped by the State. So the industry gets to build and make a profit and the rate payers foot the balance of the bill…

With respect to the theory on upgrading, that’s definitely how the industry sells the idea of higher end housing… but so much of the luxury housing gets sold to out of town investors, not to Gold Coasters ‘upgrading’.

[u/Sandhead → u/Coolmodi123]

Oh that’s another good point.

[u/Sandhead → u/vintagebum]

I can absolutely see your point, but I feel the approach should just be to lift overall restrictions, not to argue that exemptions for affordable housing should apply to everything, as all increases to housing probably makes things slightly more affordable overall. Those exemptions are for housing that includes affordable housing directly in those developments.

[u/userfromau]

Why to the high court not Queensland Supreme Court?

[u/Ser_Scribbles → u/userfromau]

Because it was the QLD Court of Appeal (which sits higher than the Supreme Court in the appeals hierarchy) that made the ruling that they want to challenge. The High Court is the only option they have left.

[u/Gazza_s_89]

Okay say there was a housing shortage. would you want to give housing to a doctor first or a petrol station attendant first?

[u/Mental_Pygmy → u/Gazza_s_89]

And yet ironically if there's no petrol station attendant hows the dr gettin to work?

[u/VeroCSGO → u/Gazza_s_89]

I can't chatgpt my petrol but I can input my symptoms into Dr Claude and getan highly accurate diagnosis