Quilpie gives away 62 free blocks and $20,000 to anyone who builds a home
A town of 500 in outback Queensland is offering free residential land and grants to attract new residents.
Quilpie, nearly 1,000 kilometres west of Brisbane, is trying a bold move to grow its tiny population. The shire council announced 62 new residential blocks, free to takers, plus $20,000 grants for anyone who builds a house.
The catch is you have to actually build and live there for at least six months. The town tried this before in 2021 and got hundreds of inquiries worldwide, but only two homes were built in the next five years.
The real barrier is cost: materials and labour are prohibitively expensive so far inland, and a family who took up the offer found that building a house out west cost roughly $1.2 million even when they did much of the work themselves.
Despite the challenges, the town has golf, two pubs, and a welcoming community.
- Nearly 1,000 kilometres
- Distance west of Brisbane
- Just over 500
- Population
- 62
- Blocks in new offer
- Roughly $1.2 million
- Build cost for one family
Why it mattersFree land schemes show desperation among regional towns, but they expose the deeper problem: Australia's housing crisis cannot be solved by supply alone when construction costs are too high.
AustraliaAs Australia grapples with housing unaffordability, this story shows how remote regional areas are being left behind even when offering land at zero cost.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
Open this story in InSnip →
