1000+ new homes planned for Geelong suburbs

More than 1000 homes are slated in plans before Geelong’s council to unlock suburban blocks and in-fill development sites.

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Homeowners could spark a new home building boom in Geelong’s established suburbs amid a wave of new applications to build homes in suburban properties.

An analysis of the City of Greater Geelong planning register reveals more than 250 proposals lodged in the past year to subdivide and build second, third or up to 10 dwellings on suburban properties.

The proposals could deliver more than 1000 new homes.

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The analysis doesn’t include applications for residential subdivisions in Geelong’s growth corridors.

The majority of applications are to build a second dwelling, or two dwellings on a two-lot subdivision, but reveal multiple plans subdivide land into up to nine properties.

The data reveals Norlane, Corio, Highton, Belmont and Hamlyn Heights have the most applications in Geelong, while Ocean Grove, Portarlington and St Leonards were development hot spots on the coast.

Several major infill projects are captured in the data, include developments on former school sites in Corio.

This Cara Rd, Highton property sold for $862,000 in May. New owners have submitted an application for a three-lot subdivision and build two additional dwellings.

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This Grovedale home sold last November for $602,000. New owners want to build four dwellings on the block.

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The Sivasli Group has lodged an application with Geelong council for its $70m 282-dwelling Lynden Estate, located on Hendy St in Corio.

Spread over 7.3ha on the former site of Flinders Peak Secondary College, the company paid almost $13m for the land following a tender process.

Sivasli has started civil works on a nearby $50m, 107-dwelling Edenville project at a 3.1ha Sharland Rd site that was home to Rosewall Primary School until 2008.

Property investors, particularly from interstate, are driving competition for properties as the city emerges from a two-year downturn in prices.

Propell Property managing director Michael Pell said Geelong was one of the nation’s best spots to invest today for buyers with budgets above $600,000 considering their first, or next, home or future small property development.

Propell Property managing director Michael Pell said investors who buy in Geelong now stand to reap significant future capital growth.

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“You can get a good house down there on a not bad sized block for $600,000 to $700,000 and there’s only one way for that to go,” he said.

“We see Geelong at the bottom of the market now and see plenty of upside for investors and homeowners alike.”

Geelong offers the possibility of significant capital growth and strong cash flow well into the future, he said, as the region was crying out for more housing supply to come online.

Mr Pell said clients were opting to construct two attached dwellings on two titles fairly quickly after purchasing, which not only adds to rental stock but also increases the overall supply of housing in the area.

The four-bedroom townhouses at 1-4/56 Barrabool Rd, Highton, are listed for sale off the plan with price hopes from $960,000 to $1.1m.

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New owners submitted development plans for two dwellings over 7.5m heights after purchasing the Coronal Ave, Newtown property in May for $790,000.

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Urban Development Institute of Australia Geelong chapter chair Nick Clements said small-scale housing projects would provide the bulk of the new dwellings in the city for some time as cost issues hamper new greenfields corridors and high-density inner city apartment development.

“From a viability perspective, that in-fill housing is realistically what’s going to be most likely developed for the foreseeable future,” Mr Clements, principal town planner at Tract, said.

High proposed developer contributions in the northern and the western growth areas and delays were impacting greenfields projects, while high construction costs was making it challenging to get inner suburb high density projects off the ground from the viability perspective, Mr Clements said.

“Let’s put that into context of the attempt to achieve 77,000 new homes in established areas of Geelong by 2050 – it is still an absolute drop in the ocean of what is expected.”

UDIA Geelong chapter chair and town planner Nick Clements said small scale residential building is about the most likely viable for the foreseeable future. Picture: Brad Fleet

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High construction costs is making the viability challenging for high-density development in Geelong’s CBD. Picture: Brad Fleet

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Mr Clements said planning approvals don’t translate to construction, with about half expected to be quarantined until the proponents see more favourable market conditions to build.

“People get a planning permit and then they get a quote from a builder and see it’s three times more than what they expected,” he said.

“The state government are continually releasing new pathways to fast-track planning approvals. There are schemes in place for two dwellings on a lot and a two-lot subdivisions.

But that’s one half of the puzzle.

Mr Clements said construction costs had risen 30 to 40 per cent over the past few years, hurting the viability of projects.

“The vast majority of businesses that have shut their doors in Geelong over the last couple of years have been in the construction sector,” he said.

Mr Clements said material costs may stabilise, but will not go backwards, while a skills shortage, exacerbated by the significant number of large-scale construction projects in Melbourne attracting high-paid workers, was leading to a rising cost for skilled labour for home building.

Geelong’s building hot spots

Source: Suburbs with most applications to build additional dwellings in 12 months to Oct 2025. City of Greater Geelong, PropTrack