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Sunshine Coast “hotbed” of urban growth

15/04/19

Following a recent audit of the area, leading demographer Bernard Salt tips the Sunshine Coast will emerge as a hotbed of urban growth and development, supported by the stand-out volume of small-business owners.

Following a recent audit of the area, leading demographer Bernard Salt tips the Sunshine Coast will emerge as a hotbed of urban growth and development, supported by the stand-out volume of small-business owners. The 20 per cent of locals that run their own business eclipses the national average of 14%, while Bureau of Statistics data points to business growth across 85 per cent of Sunshine Coast industries, especially finance, insurance, agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Mr Salt predicts that aviation, sport, renewable energy and agribusiness are set to boom on the Coast in the next 10 years, with Baby Boomers retiring from Sydney and Melbourne launching start-ups as their second or third careers.

“Whichever way you look at it, the Sunshine Coast seems to be the hotbed of start-up action and most probably in areas associated with urban growth and development”

“Initially the driver was access to the new-generation premises spinning out of the new Maroochydore CBD project, but this was soon augmented by access to broadband internet and a pool of creative talent spinning out of the universities and the local business incubator”.

Originally published in The Sunday Mail – 14/04/2019