Most of the investment conversation in Queensland runs through Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. Warwick rarely makes those lists, and that is part of the reason we chose to build there. It sits about two hours south-west of Brisbane and an hour from Toowoomba. Its population is growing, it has a broad local economy, and it is getting the kind of sewer, water and road investment that has to come before new housing can. Rents have risen and vacancies are low, which tells you demand is already ahead of supply.

This article sets out what the data says about Warwick and why we think it deserves a closer look from developers, investors and channel partners.

A town that keeps adding people

Warwick is the largest town in the Southern Downs and the region’s commercial centre. The Southern Downs local government area covers more than 7,000 square kilometres and had an estimated 37,444 residents in 2023 (profile.id, October 2026).

Warwick itself had 16,197 residents at June 2025, up from 15,525 at the 2021 Census. That is growth of 5.6% in four years (ABS via AreaSearch, October 2026).

That isn’t boom-town growth, and nobody should sell it as such. It is steady and it compounds, and each of those new residents needs somewhere to live in a market that hasn’t been building much.

A working economy, not a commuter suburb

What separates Warwick from a lot of regional growth stories is that people aren’t moving there only for cheaper housing. There is work in town.

The Southern Downs had 16,340 local jobs in 2022/23 (economy.id, October 2026). Gross regional product reached $2.35 billion in the year to June 2023, up 14.0% on the year before (economy.id, October 2026).

The job base is spread across several industries rather than leaning on one employer:

Construction is the largest employer, at 14.0% of local jobs.
Health care and social assistance follows at 13.5%.
Agriculture, retail and education round out the top five.

A spread like that matters to anyone holding property for the long term. When a downturn hits one sector, a diverse local economy tends to cushion it. Health and education jobs in particular don’t move much with commodity prices or interest rates.

Energy is a newer source of work in the region. The MacIntyre wind farm, about 50 km south-west of Warwick, is backed by more than $500 million of investment into the regional economy and up to 400 jobs (CleanCo Queensland, September 2024). At 923 MW across 162 turbines, it is one of the largest wind projects in the country (IPP Journal, October 2024).

Infrastructure that unlocks housing

Plenty of towns have demand. Fewer have the trunk infrastructure to let new housing connect. That is where Warwick has had the most important news this year.

The Queensland Government has committed $17 million through its Residential Activation Fund to upgrade Warwick’s sewerage network (Warwick Today, September 2026). The works include:

upgrades at the Warwick Wastewater Treatment Plant
improvements to the Cleary Street sewer pump station
three kilometres of new sewer mains
a new 9-megalitre clear-water reservoir

The government says the package will unlock capacity for about 2,000 new homes (Warwick Today, September 2026). That figure is enabling capacity rather than a count of approved or planned dwellings, but it shows the state sees Warwick as a place to put new housing.

That package sits alongside several other projects in and around town:

McEvoy Street sewer upgrade. Council is laying 1.1 km of new sewer main, at $3 million, to add capacity for expected demand. Works are due to finish in December 2026 (Southern Downs Regional Council, July 2026).
New England Highway safety works. A $7.47 million upgrade between East Greenmount and Eight Mile, just north of Warwick, is under construction (TMR, July 2026).
Cox Bridge replacement. A $4.4 million replacement of the flood-prone Cox Bridge is targeted for June 2028 (Southern Downs Regional Council, April 2026).
Toowoomba to Warwick pipeline. The state has confirmed more than $300 million for the pipeline. Stage 1 to Greenmount is contracted, and the Greenmount to Warwick stage is subject to a future government decision (Seqwater, August 2026).

What the housing market is saying

Rent is the clearest signal. The median weekly rent for a house in Warwick reached $547 in the year to June 2026, up 9.1% on the previous year (QLD rental bond data via AreaSearch, October 2026). Suburb-level vacancy sits under 1% (HtAG, September 2026). When rents rise that quickly and almost nothing sits empty, the town needs more homes.

Sale prices have moved too, though estimates vary depending on the data provider. Recent suburb figures put Warwick’s median house price between about $660,000 (OpenAgent, October 2026) and $735,000 (HtAG, September 2026), with annual growth in the high teens or more.

Even at the top of that range, Warwick remains well below the regional Queensland median house value of $859,281 (Cotality via NAB, July 2026). That gap is a large part of the appeal. Buyers and tenants get a regional centre with a hospital, schools, TAFE and a working CBD at a lower entry price than most of regional Queensland.

Why we’re building there

We pick locations on fundamentals rather than headlines. Warwick has steady population growth, a local job base that doesn’t depend on one industry, rental demand that is outrunning supply, and public money going into the infrastructure that new housing depends on. Those are the conditions we look for when we commit to building somewhere.

No location is without risk. Regional markets can be thinner than metropolitan ones, and the Stage 2 water pipeline is not yet a commitment. But for partners who want exposure to a growing regional centre at a sensible entry price, Warwick is worth a serious look.

If you’d like to talk about building in Warwick, get in touch with the GDev team at gdev.au.

General information only, not financial advice.

Sources

Why Warwick? The case for building on the Southern Downs

Today’s approvals are tomorrow’s rentals