Business
12 February, 2021
Commercial property boom in Cairns
IT’S not just the housing market in Cairns experiencing a sharp lift. The commercial sector is also facing strong growth combined with a shortage of sheds and businesses.
Stuart Carr, Director of Go Commercial in Cairns is calling for more land to be made available to cater for this increased demand.
“There is a real shortage of available industrial land to allow for the construction of industrial sheds.
“The Woree Business and Industry Park has sold out over a year ago and there are maybe one or two small lots available in the South Cairns Industrial Park.
“Cairns needs to diversify and have other industries other than tourism.
“Agriculture, manufacturing and technology need industrial property and we don’t have the capacity to accommodate businesses wanting to set up here,” he said
“The current supply and demand situation has resulted in industrial land selling for close to four times what industrial land is selling for in Townsville and that’s if you can find it.
“The high cost of land also results in higher rents and purchase prices which does nothing to attract big business to our region.”
Coming out of COVID, the Cairns industrial property market has performed relatively well and across Australia industrial property has been the best performing asset classes of all commercial real estate compared to retail and office space.
“Prices for industrial property in Cairns have held their value during the Global Financial Crisis and I’m seeing small strata industrial going up and up.
“After having a cracking 2020 with lots of sales and leasing I hardly have any stock but a list of buyers ready to purchase a mile long.
“Cairns is a thin coastal strip constrained by the sea and the ranges and this is our problem but there are parcels of land that could and should be purchased by the State Government and made into industrial parks that can cater for the growth of Cairns into the future.”
Stuart believes more needs to be done to cater for the long term business development of our region.
He approached Cairns Regional Council two years ago to bring this looming crisis to their attention but is yet to see any real action to capitalise on our business growth potential.
“We need to have a plan.”
