Yearly: 2024

Essence Estate has undergone an impressive transformation from piles of soil, pipes and gravel to lush landscaped boulevards and level lots.

Words don’t do the process and transformation justice. The best way to really appreciate the hard work that has gone into creating this new community is from the air.

Take a moment to watch the progression of each site visit captured in the video below.

From the early earthworks to the homes that have already taken shape in Stage 1. Fly over the beginnings of boulevards and see them become sealed streets. We are proud of the tremendous team effort that has transformed Essence from bare land into a boutique estate.

Toowoomba Takes Off

With the initial stages built or commencing construction, Homecorp are now preparing lots in Stage 2 and Stage 4 at Essence Estate for release to market to meet demand.

Essence is rapidly developing into an inspiring community. The dedication of our team is creating an estate people are proud to call home.

Toowoomba offers many advantages including housing affordability, employment opportunities, education, health services, open spaces, sport, and culture.

It is one of the most liveable regions in Australia, supported by one of the nation’s most diverse and healthy economies.

A surge in activity has broadened the economic base to include manufacturing, along with education, transport, logistics and information communication sectors.

As a result, Toowoomba was one of Queensland’s top performing property markets for 2023.  

New house and land packages are being released in Toowoomba's Essence Estate

Homecorp Hot Spots

Homecorp’s assessment criteria for development locations is something we have fine-tuned over decades in the industry. 

Our track record speaks for itself with five of Homecorp’s key development locations – Toowoomba, Logan Reserve, Ipswich, Rockhampton and Adelaide – featuring on hot property lists for 2023.

Essence Estate Toowoomba is ready for new houses to be built by Homecorp

Want to know more? Take a look at Homecorp’s plans for Essence Estate or talk to our team today.

Site Visit: Essence, Toowoomba

Homecorp Queensland house and land packages
Sustainable Building

Demand Increases For Energy Efficient Homes

Energy efficiency is more important than ever for those looking to buy, rent or invest.

In the September 2023 Residential Audience Pulse Survey, 68% of consumers said that energy efficiency ratings were important when looking for a home. A third (34%) of respondents said they were extremely important. This is an increase of 6% compared to last year.

Reduce Costs And Help The Environment

Three-quarters (73%) of respondents cited reducing energy bills as the reason they viewed energy efficiency as important. Half of survey respondents (51%) also wanted to do good for the environment.

Homecorp builder developer in Queensland and South Australia

Searches for energy-efficient features on realestate.com.au revealed solar panels were the most in-demand feature. A total of 77% of all energy-efficient related searches related to solar.

Solar panels were the most searched energy-efficient feature in all states except the Australian Capital Territory, where property seekers searched simply for energy efficiency the most.

Queensland Goes Green

Given its reputation for sunshine, it is no surprise that Queensland had the highest volume of searches (48%) for properties with solar panels.

Queenslanders were more interested in water tanks than other searchers and were also interested in properties that are “off-grid”.

“Off-grid” homes are completely disconnected from the energy grid. This means they solely rely on solar power and energy stored in batteries. Nearly 30% of “off-grid” searches came from Queensland.

Toowoomba Essence Estate house and land for sale

Queenslanders were also the largest searchers for properties with batteries, which allows them to store the unused energy generated from their solar panels.

Whether it is to save money or reduce environmental impact, more property seekers are taking home energy efficiency seriously. This means the value of homes with high energy efficiency is likely to increase. Features such as solar panels and glazed windows will continue to be important, as well as new technologies such as electric vehicle chargers and batteries for storing surplus energy.

Homecorp takes sustainable building seriously offering house and land packages that meet the stringent 7 Green-Star rating.

What is Green Star?

Founded by Green Building Council of Australia in 2003, Green Star is an internationally recognised rating system setting the standard for healthy, resilient, positive buildings and places. Developed for the Australian environment, Green Star has certified thousands of sustainable fitouts, buildings, homes and communities right across the country.

  • Reducing the impact of climate change
  • Enhancing our health and quality of life
  • Restoring and protecting our planet’s biodiversity and ecosystems
  • Driving resiliency in buildings, fitouts, and communities 
  • Contributing to market transformation and a sustainable economy
Homecorp house and land packages offer the benefit of our experience and network

The Future Homes program is a Green Star Homes Standard to assess the health, resilience and energy efficiency of our homes.

The Green Star Homes standard will be used to assess Australian homes against three key criteria to help us build homes of our future:

  • Positive: net zero in energy, fully electric, draught sealed, efficient and powered by renewables
  • Healthy: ventilated, comfortable, with products that are better for you
  • Resilient: water efficient and climate change ready.   

To learn more about what Homecorp are building, connect with our team today.

The Verge is a Homecorp house and land estate in Logan Reserve
House and Land

Queensland Homes Hit All Time High

Key points:

  • Property in almost every part of Queensland has hit all time high prices overtaking COVID-era peaks
  • Analysts say a combination of affordable regions and fewer homes on the market is driving up prices
  • Housing advocates warn that as prices rise, those already struggling will be under even more pressure

Queensland Property Prices 

Property analysts CoreLogic found that every regional centre in Queensland – aside from the Sunshine Coast and Townsville – are now at their peak and continuing to rise.

In the south-east, homes in Brisbane’s south, inner city, along with Logan and Ipswich, are now at their highest-ever median price.

House and land for sale Brisbane growth corridor Toowoomba, Ipswich, Gold Coast

Affordable Regions In Demand

CoreLogic founder Tim Lawless said it is no surprise that homes in regional Queensland were rising fast.

He said they are still comparatively cheap and did not experience the same boom as the south-east.

“They didn’t see the same trends as south-east Queensland saw through the pandemic.

“Most of those markets are still showing immediate value well below $500,000.”

In contrast, the average price of a home on the Sunshine Coast now tops $965,000.

“That’s rivalling some of the more expensive markets in Sydney,” he said.

House and Land packages, like those at Essence Estate, open the door to Toowoomba’s hot property market

Prices on the rise

Mr Lawless said homes in South East Queensland’s lifestyle regions went up around 60 per cent through the COVID era. Many then saw dips in value once COVID restrictions eased but prices are rising across the board and demand is strong.

The Outlook in Gympie, Queensland, is readying the next stage of development to meet market demand

More Rental Properties Urgently Needed

Lawless also noted with low vacancy rates, housing supply and more overseas immigration, “it’s hard to see prices going backwards over the near term”.

Looking ahead to the next 20 years, Logan City will continue to be one of the fastest growing cities in Queensland. The population is expected to increase by up to 200,000 within the next 20 years and Logan’s objective is to create at least 53,000 jobs to support this population growth.

Logan Reserve property growth and population growth

Homecorp is developing House and Land estates in Logan Reserve, like The Verge and Prestwood Estate, to help meet demand.

Logan Reserve is a property hot spot offering easy family-friendly living with city conveniences close at hand:

30 minutes to Brisbane’s CBD
25 minutes to Ipswich
35 minutes to the Gold Coast
It’s one hot location, location, location!

Stage 5 at The Verge has just been released and it is the final house and land release in this thriving development.

With limited lots remaining, the time to invest is now! Talk to the team at Homecorp to find out more.