First-home buyers, in particular, often have an extra unit built on their section which they rent out to help pay their mortgage. For those "home and income" householders, the development contribution for their extra one-bedroom unit was about $4000. But, using a Hanley’s Farm flat as an example, that has gone up to $13,823 — an increase of about 350%.
For a two-bedroom unit it was about $6500, but at Hanley’s it is now, for example, $20,734.50, or about 320% more.
The council says it adopted a new methodology that better reflects the infrastructure demands of a small residential unit.
However, builders said it could deter clients from adding desperately needed housing supply.
G.J. Gardner Homes franchisee Nick Tapper said the increased charge could be a tipping point.
"I would think when we have a housing shortage and affordability issue, it’s probably a little bit of a deterrent for some of our clients to think about adding that extra bedroom or flat.
"A lot of the clients in this market are fully stretched, and we could see people turning away from it.
"When you take into account the process a lot of clients go through and the time it takes to get a design for a house, get finance for a house, and then to get a notification you’ve got to find another, say, $20,000, that would be a struggle for quite a few of our clients.
Mr Tapper said he understood the council’s expenditure restraints and need for infrastructure, "so it’s almost a rock and a hard place, unfortunately".
However, he would have appreciated more notice — "we didn’t get any contact from council individually as one of the larger builders".
David Reid Homes franchisee Fraser Mackenzie believed councils were "absolutely gouging on everything at the moment".
He called its massive increases in home and income development contributions "just nuts".
"The biggest issue they’re going to have is they’re making it even more unaffordable, so at the end of the day, all it’s going to do is drive up the rents in town.
"And it’s also going to drive up the sale of a product as they’re making it more expensive, again, on top of what they’re already doing.
"Obviously, they’re looking for more money and they need more money, I understand that, but at the same time it’s sort of like stealing from John to give to Paul."
Mr Mackenzie said it would have made more sense to have staggered the increase in development contributions rather than tripling them overnight.
QLDC spokesman Sam White said the higher development contributions were designed to meet the infrastructure demands of small residential units.
"Previously, these were assessed on the gross floor area of a unit, but this approach has not adequately recovered the cost of providing infrastructure."
The updated approach looked at the number of bedrooms in a flat, Mr White said.
"This is the approach used by similar growth councils, and represents a fairer way of recovering the cost."
If new developments were not charged an equitable share of infrastructure costs, then this fell on all ratepayers to pay, he said.
Mr White said the charges were publicly consulted on as part of the long-term plan.
