Affordable House Corp PTY LTD

15/10/2026

🏡 OVERLAND FLOW — HOW IT CAN MAKE OR BREAK A DEVELOPMENT SITE

An 800m² block in inner-city Brisbane, already on two lots. Sounds like a great development opportunity? Not necessarily.

I regularly assess properties for clients, checking services, slope, zoning and council overlays before they purchase land.One overlay that can dramatically affect development potential is Overland Flow.

📍 This example is from Norman Park, Brisbane. The property is already on two lots, but Brisbane City Council’s overland flow mapping covers a substantial portion of the rear.

💧 WHAT IS OVERLAND FLOW?

Before Brisbane was developed, rainwater naturally travelled downhill through gullies and creek beds towards larger waterways.

As the city expanded, many of these drainage paths were filled, built over or converted into underground stormwater pipes. This explains why Brisbane’s stormwater network often follows unusual alignments.

During heavy rainfall, water returns to these natural low points. Zoom out on the council mapping and you can see entire networks of old drainage corridors running through the suburbs.

You can find the overland flow paths by looking a councils online mapping systems and turning on that layer. It’s often easy to pick when you see what looks like an old creek.

🏗️ WHY DOES IT MATTER?

When blocks were larger and houses were raised on stumps, water had more room to flow. Today, smaller lots and slab-on-ground construction mean councils must protect these drainage paths.

Overland flow overlays can restrict:
• Building locations and site coverage
• Filling and retaining walls
• Subdivision and development approvals
• Floor levels and engineering requirements

For rooming accommodation, building within an affected area can trigger additional planning approvals and significantly increase development costs.

Council mapping isn’t always exact, but the overlays must be addressed. Some sites require hydraulic assessments, while others may simply be unsuitable for the intended development.

💰 THE BOTTOM LINE

An 800m² property on two lots might look like a bargain, but if a large portion is affected by overland flow, its development potential and value can be dramatically reduced.

Some sites can be engineered around these constraints. Others simply aren’t worth buying.

15/09/2026

9 Dudleigh Street, Booval, Qld 4304

9 Dudleigh Street offers an exceptional Medium Density opportunity for developers, builders and astute investors to secure a rare 1,012m2 block in the heart of Booval.Located within one of South-East Queensland's fastest-growing residential markets, this property also boasts immediate acce...

14/09/2026

515 Beatty Road, Acacia Ridge, Qld 4110

Situated on a generous 1,062sqm flood-free block approximately 15km from the Brisbane C*D, 515 Beatty Road offers buyers a range of options.The existing home needs some love and would suit someone looking for a renovation project, with the opportunity to improve and add value over time. Al...

24/08/2026

QUEENSLAND HAS ONLY 431 CADASTRAL SURVEYOR WITH ENDORSEMENTS LEFT IN THE ENTIRE STATE

There is another major workforce shortage developing behind Queensland’s housing industry that receives very little attention.

Registered cadastral surveyors.

These are the highly qualified surveyors responsible for establishing legal property boundaries and undertaking the cadastral surveying required when land is subdivided.

At 30 June 2025, Queensland had only 431 individual cadastral surveyor with endorsements left.

To put that into perspective:

1994 — approximately 766

2011 — 579

2025 — 431

And this is an ageing profession.

Queensland workforce data showed that by 2025, 64% of cadastral-endorsed surveyors were already aged 55 or older.

That matters because you cannot simply replace one of these people with a junior employee.

Becoming a registered cadastral surveyor requires university-level surveying qualifications followed by decades of professional experience, and specific cadastral endorsement that not all surveyors are registered for. 

Their role is also legally significant. completing subdivision plans and signing off the legal document to register the land. It’s an extremely important profession because it’s the basis for all mortgages held by banks. It is extremely difficult and complex profession that’s critical not just to the Building industry, but also the banking industry.

Meanwhile, demand isn’t slowing.

Industry workforce modelling forecasts Queensland could be short around 1,415 surveyors by 2029.

So when we talk about Queensland needing more subdivisions and hundreds of thousands of additional homes, there are bottlenecks that are receiving very little detention that are about to have a very serious impact. At this point, we don’t see how they will reverse this trend and yet nothing is being done to resolve these issues.

These shortages have been decades in the making decisions made long ago, set the wheels in motion. Once bustling council departments full of junior, cadets being trained by the public sector now lay empty. The private sector has failed to keep up at the same rate of training.

Some of this pain has been prevented as workers have stayed in the industry longer and delayed retirement with many surveyors, working well past retirement age in order to keep businesses running. But while that has kept the industry running for the past decade time is rapidly running out to the point where the entire industry faces the possibility I’ve just not being able to function at the level needed to service the population growth. 

And it’s not just surveyors it’s senior positions across the entire building. Industry are facing severe shortages of highly skilled professionals with decades of experience. This matters because those people are not easy to replace reversing this trend will take decades.

Why do we think this matters? If you thought the housing crisis was bad now it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

24/08/2026

One big reason we are passionate about investing in real estate, particularly boarding houses is because Australia is not just in desperate need of housing right now in the next few decades this housing shortage is forecast to hit levels. Never be before seen.

One statistic that will interest anyone thinking about the future of housing in Queensland:

Around 1 in 3 Queensland construction licensees are expected to retire within the next 10 years. Queensland is running out of tradespeople five time faster that it is training new ones. According to QBCC research.  there’s never been a better time to invest in housing stock than right now. 

We predict as it gets closer and closer to the Olympics the ability of Builders to build houses will be greatly reduced as more of the infrastructure in stadiums begin to be constructed, along with the rest of the infrastructure around the country, including dozens of new data centers being used for AI. 

Our strategy is a simple one purchased land you can subdivide and build high, yielding boarding houses offering low-cost rent in a high-quality building close to Employment and public transport. Hold it long enough that the loans are paid down and the rent is providing a stable retirement income.

15/08/2026

Brisbane City Council are getting closer to implementing Amendment L to the City Plan this will have alot of impact on Rooming Accomidation and we are suggesting if you plan to build in the next few years and you land can get a Building Approval, get them as soon as you can.

⚠️ **BRISBANE ROOMING ACCOMMODATION — WHAT PACKAGE L COULD ACTUALLY CHANGE**

Brisbane City Council’s **Major Amendment Package L** is still proposed and is **not yet in force**.

Council currently anticipates the amendment becoming effective in **mid-to-late 2026**.

For rooming accommodation, these are the changes that matter most.

**1. 50% TOTAL SITE COVER**

Council is proposing a **50% total site-cover outcome** for small-scale housing.

Examples:

• 400m² lot = about **200m²** site cover
• 500m² lot = about **250m²** site cover
• 600m² lot = about **300m²** site cover

**EFFECT:** Larger single-level rooming houses may become harder to fit efficiently on smaller sites.

This can push designs toward smaller footprints, more compact layouts or additional storeys.

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**2. ROOMING ACCOMMODATION TO LOOK MORE LIKE A NORMAL HOUSE**

Council specifically states that the proposed amendment seeks a design outcome where rooming accommodation **more closely resembles a standard house**.

**EFFECT:** Designs that visually present as purpose-built boarding or institutional accommodation may become more difficult to achieve under the accepted-development pathway.

Façades, building bulk, entrances, parking and overall site layout will increasingly need to read as conventional suburban housing.

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**3. LESS SELF-CONTAINED BEDROOM DESIGN**

The proposed Rooming Accommodation Code draws a clearer distinction between a bedroom and a self-contained dwelling.

Private resident facilities can include items such as an ensuite and dry-bar style facilities, but the proposal does not support turning each room into its own fully self-contained unit.

**EFFECT:** Rooming accommodation designed around highly independent rooms with private cooking facilities may need to move back toward genuinely **shared kitchens and shared household facilities**.

That changes the resident product considerably.

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**4. MORE LAND HAS TO REMAIN OUTSIDE THE BUILDING**

The combination of the **50% site-cover target** and Council’s increased emphasis on backyards, landscaping, street trees and suburban character means more of the block is intended to remain as usable external space.

**EFFECT:** On smaller lots, every square metre becomes more important.

Less land available for the building can mean:

• smaller communal areas
• smaller bedrooms
• less storage
• reduced internal circulation
• more pressure to build over two storeys
• reduced flexibility in floor-plan design

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**5. THE 5-PERSON ACCEPTED-DEVELOPMENT MODEL BECOMES MORE DESIGN-SENSITIVE**

Currently, rooming accommodation for **5 people or fewer** can potentially be accepted development where it is in the appropriate zone and complies with all identified acceptable outcomes of the Rooming Accommodation Code.

Package L changes those design benchmarks.

**EFFECT:** The five-resident limit may stay the same, but achieving accepted development could become harder if the building does not satisfy the new design requirements.

Failure to meet an acceptable outcome can potentially mean needing a **development application** rather than proceeding as accepted development.

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**WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN PRACTICE?**

Package L is not primarily about reducing the number of residents.

It is about changing **what a compliant 5-person rooming house looks like and how much of the site it can occupy.**

The likely result is:

• smaller building footprints on constrained sites
• greater reliance on two-storey designs
• less ability to provide highly self-contained bedrooms
• more shared facilities
• more land allocated to landscaping and open space
• less flexibility in maximising internal floor area
• greater risk that marginal sites require a planning application

For developers, the biggest issue is simple:

**A block that comfortably accommodates a 5-bedroom rooming house under the current City Plan may not accommodate the same building under Package L.**

**STATUS:** Proposed only — not yet law.

**Council timeline:** anticipated adoption and commencement **mid-to-late 2026**.

Source: Brisbane City Council — Major Amendment Package L, Brisbane City Plan 2014.

12/08/2026

If you’re nervous about house prices right now it’s worth bearing in mind . By 2050 the population is expected to hit 40 million Australian’s up from the current 27 million. (That’s the same amount of time since 2002). And Councils are busy rolling out more homeless encampments in public parks. Sooner or later they will have to try employing more town planners and engineers to get housing approvals going. Until then.

The 12-month trial will offer safe, regulated camping in a park already used by the homeless and adjacent to the site of a 2032 Olympic venue.

06/08/2026

06/08/2026

The long awaited QLD Housing Code draft has just been released with some of this coming online next month. its the biggest shake up of building design in more than 10 years for queensland. these are a summary of some of the changes. Councils have 3 years to adopt them and they may chnage before adoption though.

06/08/2026

QUEENSLAND ROOMING ACCOMMODATION HOUSE RULES UPDATE COMING INTO EFFECT IN 4 WEEKS TIME.