Wises Farm: The Sunshine Coast's Last Big Subdivision and What It Means for Investors

Sunshine Coast Council has unanimously approved the first subdivision of Wises Farm in Buderim - 91 new homes on what was one of the last working farms in the heart of the Sunshine Coast. It's a significant moment for the region, and it tells a clear story about where demand is heading.

What is Wises Farm?

Wises Farm sits at 239 Wises Road, Buderim - 39 hectares of elevated land, 7 km west of Mooloolaba and about 8 minutes from the beach. For generations, it was home to the Wise family, who farmed cattle and small crops on one of the last pieces of open agricultural land in the Maroochydore and Buderim corridor.

The property sold in 2025 for $93.5 million to QM Properties (through Norfolk Estates Pty Ltd), following the passing of Peter Wise in 2024. The estate name has been retained to honour the Wise family's pioneering history - a considered gesture from a developer who knew what they were buying into.

What followed was a development application process that began in early 2022 and concluded in February 2026 with a unanimous council vote to approve the full 420-home masterplan - despite 49 of 60 public submissions opposing it.

What's being built

The first precinct release comprises 91 residential lots in a range of formats designed to suit different buyers. The mix includes 35 rear-loaded terraces, 28 villas, 16 premium villas, and 12 courtyard lots. Lot sizes range from 195 to 671 square metres, with an average around 326 sq m.

Beyond the dwellings, the masterplan includes 1,500 sq m of business use space, 13.5 hectares of open areas and parks, environmental rehabilitation across 11.2 hectares of the site, and green corridors as a defining feature of the estate. Connectivity was a council priority - the approved amendments include zebra crossings, street lighting, and safe on-road bike lanes on Sunshine Cove Way, with a new underpass connecting the estate to Sunshine Cove beneath the Sunshine Motorway.

Why this matters for the Sunshine Coast housing market

Wises Farm isn't just a development story - it's a supply story. The Sunshine Coast has been under consistent pressure to build more homes than it's been able to deliver, and the gap between demand and supply is real and measurable.

The Sunshine Coast population is growing at around 2.5% per year. The metro area currently sits at approximately 376,000 residents and is projected to exceed 540,000 by 2046 - an additional 200,000 people settling in a region that is already struggling to approve enough homes each year.

Against that backdrop, a 420-home estate on 39 hectares of well-located land in Buderim is genuinely significant. It's not a suburb on the fringes - it's 8 minutes from Mooloolaba, close to schools, and connected to the broader road network. New supply in locations people actually want to live tends to attract tenants who choose to be there for the long term.

What it means for rental demand

New subdivisions are often read as bad news for existing landlords - more supply means more competition. But the current Sunshine Coast rental market is so undersupplied that the more relevant question is: does new supply address the underlying shortage, or does it simply meet existing demand that wasn't being served?

A vacancy rate of 0.7% is not a market under pressure - it's a market in crisis for renters. The healthy benchmark sits between 2.6% and 3.5%. Sunshine Coast median house rent has risen 55% over five years. The region has an estimated 13,000 holiday rentals (as of mid-2024), the majority of which are whole homes removed from the long-term rental pool.

In this context, 420 new homes - delivered in stages over several years - will not fundamentally shift rental demand. What it will do is provide a new cohort of owner-occupier buyers, which tends to stabilise demand for quality rental properties in adjacent suburbs.

Population growth is the story behind the story

The 20-year trajectory is clear. An extra 200,000 people arriving in a region that's already short on housing means demand for well-managed rental properties is not going anywhere. The Sunshine Coast needs 3,500 new dwellings a year through to 2046 - and approved only 3,284 in 2023-24. That's not a trend that reverses quickly.

What does this mean if you own a rental property in Buderim or nearby?

Buderim is the suburb directly adjacent to this development. The Wises Farm estate will introduce a new owner-occupier demographic into the area - buyers drawn to the lifestyle, the location, and the premium villas and courtyard lots on offer. That buyer profile tends to be aspirational: people who want to own but may be renting nearby while they wait for the right property or the right moment.

For landlords managing existing properties in Buderim, Woombye, Forest Glen, and surrounding areas, this development is a signal - not a threat. It confirms what the data has been saying for some time: that this part of the Sunshine Coast is in genuine demand, and that demand is structural, not speculative.

At R&C Property Group, we manage properties across Buderim, Woombye, Nambour, Palmwoods, Yandina, Kiels Mountain and the surrounding hinterland. If you'd like to talk through what a development like this means for your specific property - or what your current rental is achieving in this market - we're happy to have that conversation.