Mount Isa City Council is considering the possibility of developing a new suburb to address the housing shortage in town.
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Mayor Danielle Slade said Council was discussing the role it played with housing, and if there was a market to develop further land for a new suburb.
"We understand Mount Isa is currently facing a housing shortage, so we are currently working to decipher our role and how to best address the issue," Cr Slade said.
"We do have land available at the back of Healy Heights and another on the Duchess Road that we could potentially open up for development, however we do not want to flood the market.
"If we do open up another suburb, it would be a staged development so it would be a very slow process but it is an issue that needs to be addressed."
Real Estate principal Sophie Keily agreed that Mount Isa was facing a housing shortage but housing needed to be affordable to reach the right market.
"Price is important. Anywhere in the lower end is popular but not everyone wants a fixer-upper. Under $350,000 is where most of the buyers try to get to, because they are going to get a home that is in a bit better condition. There are a lot less buyers in the range of $400,000 and over," Ms Keily said.
"If a new suburb could keep prices under $350,000 it would be ideal, but the challenge is nearly impossible to build a home in that price range. To build a house in Healy Heights it's a minimum of $500,000 because they are larger homes and better quality."
Cr Slade said she understands the community may have reservations about opening another suburb and Council was developing a 20 year plan to understand where Mount Isa was heading.
"When the previous Council rolled out Healy Heights, it was met with a lot of concern addressing the same issue as today," she said.
"Now we look back and say thank goodness that development happened.
"We are looking at developing a plan of Mount Isa and what it looks like in 2040, which I think is very important to prioritise where we are heading."
Ms Keily said the housing market had only just started to come up in the last 12 months.
"It's not bounding up, it is coming up in modest amounts," she said.
"Rentals were particularly tight this time a year ago, and they have stayed tight. So for a newcomer arriving there is not a lot of variety and options are limited. The rental market is competitive and there could be half a dozen applicants for one house that are all equally as good as each other. So renters might not get a property straight away.
"With the rental market tightening it has pushed over to the sales side. There is still over 300 sale listings but the competitively listed ones are going really quickly and there are other properties in the higher market that are just sitting there.
"If we could have the lower prices homes, we would sell them in a shot. There are a lot of buyers so there is definitely the potential to have a suburb that could cater to that."
Mount Isa City Council is consulting the Queensland Government on how best to manage the housing shortage.
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