Building approvals, live development applications and major projects across the
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa statistical area — covering Western Downs, Maranoa and Goondiwindi and 1 more.
SA3 30701Rest of Qld45,796 residents8 statistical areas
The PipelineDevelopment Pipeline in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
1 Proposed25applications in assessmentLeading · to July 2026See applications ↓
2 Approved70dwellings approved in 2024-25, or 0.14 per 100 existing dwellings a yearOfficial · ABS to June 2026See approvals ↓
3 Building28major projects committed or under construction, 14 of them already on siteForward · completions to 2030+See projects ↓
4 Delivered1,259new addresses verified since the 2021 Census, up 5.6% on the existing baseActual · to June 2026Where it landed ↓
In the 2024-25 financial year the ABS recorded 70 dwelling approvals across Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa. Right now, 25 development applications are before the 4 councils covering the area. AreaSearch tracks 28 major projects here that are committed or under construction, the largest being Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project at an estimated $10.0bn. On the ground, 1,259 new addresses have been verified since the 2021 Census — growth of 5.6% on the existing address base.
These four figures are deliberately not added together. An application, an
approval and a project under construction are often the same building at three points in its life,
measured by three different bodies with three different lags. Read them as a sequence, not a total.
ApprovedBuilding Approvals in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
What councils and certifiers have formally
permitted — the ABS series, published about four months in arrears.
Approvals are running at 0.14 per 100 existing dwellings a year, well below the Queensland rate of 0.77. Development here remains overwhelmingly detached: houses account for 89% of recent approvals. The mix being approved closely matches what is already standing — 94% houses against 90% of existing homes. The average approved dwelling is valued at $443,000 in construction cost.
For its size, Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa is adding 0.14 dwellings a year per 100 existing homes — well below the Queensland rate of 0.77 and the national rate of 0.71. That is about 1.5 approvals a year for every 1,000 residents. Building intensity has been broadly stable across the published series.
Measured against people rather than housing stock, Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa is approving 1.33 dwellings a year per 1,000 residents — well below the Queensland rate of 6.67. The two rate views differ by household size, which here averages 2.8 people per home.
Dwelling approvals a year per 100 existing
homes, with Queensland and Australia for comparison. This is the
same activity as the totals view, divided by the size of the area — which is the only
fair way to compare a large SA3 with a small one.
Dwelling approvals a year per 1,000
residents, each year divided by that year’s estimated resident
population (ABS ERP at 30 June), not by today’s — which matters most in fast-growing
areas, where a fixed denominator can understate the early years by half. The most recent periods use the latest published ERP, as the population series runs a year behind approvals. Read it alongside the per-100-homes view: the two differ wherever household size does.
Dwelling units approved each financial year. The dashed line is the five-year average of 68.
How intensively is it building?
Dwelling approvals a year per 100 existing dwellings.
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa0.14
Queensland0.77
Australia0.71
What is here, and what is coming
Detached houses as a share of existing homes,
against the share of recent approvals.
The same approvals, measured against the population
they have to house.
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa approves about 1.5 new dwellings a year for every 1,000 residents. Since the 2021 Census it has added 1,552 residents and 1,259 new addresses — about 1.2 extra people per home built, below the 2.8-person average household, so building has run ahead of population growth.
Growth against supply since the Census
People added for every new address verified,
against the size of an average local household.
People added per new home1.2
Average household size2.8
A bar longer than the household average means
the area gained more residents than its new housing could hold, and the extra had to be
absorbed by existing homes.
Approval rate against projected need
Dwellings a year: what is currently being
approved, against what the 2041 population projection implies.
1.5
dwellings approved a year per 1,000 residents.
No population projection is published for this area.
ProposedLEADING · to July 2026Development Applications in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
What is being asked for right now — applications
collected from council planning portals, before any of it reaches the ABS series above.
AreaSearch tracks applications of material scale; routine minor works such as signage and
fencing changes are not carried, so these are not counts of every application lodged. 11
of them carry an AreaSearch analyst assessment — look for the
Analysed marker in the search below.
AreaSearch tracks 324 development applications of material scale lodged with councils across Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa, the most recent in July 2026. 25 of them are still in assessment. The most common types in the queue are industrial, commercial and retail.
Number of applications by development type. This is the clearest
single picture of what kind of place Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa is being asked to become. Councils in
Queensland do not publish an estimated cost of works in
their planning feeds, so applications here are counted rather than valued. A further 2 applications sit across
1 smaller category,
too few to plot.
Where the applications stand
As reported by the council. Highlighted rows are
applications still in assessment.
Decided248
Approved22
In Progress18
In Progress (Impact)6
Lapsed4
Lodgement Period4
1 application is still marked under
assessment but was lodged more than
18 months ago. Councils often leave determined or
abandoned applications open in their feeds, so
it is counted here but excluded
from the live queue above.
By local government area
Applications on record within each council area that
overlaps Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa. This counts applications inside this
statistical area only — it is not a total for the council.
Maranoa148
Western Downs124
Balonne49
Recent applications in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
By the number of dwellings proposed, as lodged. Figures are the applicant’s own and are not verified by AreaSearch.
Building Work Assessable against the Planning Scheme: Office - 27-29 Downes Street CHINCHILLAChinchilla · In Progress · lodged Jul 2026
Material Change of Use: Multiple Dwelling - 19-21 Coxen Street CONDAMINEMiles - Wandoan · In Progress · lodged Jul 2026
BuildingFORWARDMajor Projects & Infrastructure in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
What is funded and moving — the projects large enough
to change how Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa works, ranked by committed value and how close
they are to delivery.
AreaSearch tracks 28 current projects across Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa. The largest is Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project at an estimated $10.0bn, due by 2026. That breaks down as 14 under construction, 5 approved and awaiting a start and 9 still in planning. The pipeline is weighted toward energy, sports & recreation and residential development.
Under construction$600mby 2027
Origin Energy Darling Downs Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
A 500 MW / 2,000 MWh battery energy storage system located beside Origin Energy's existing 630 MW Darling Downs Power Station near Kogan, about 40 km west of Dalby. The facility will connect to the Braemar…
A 400 MW hydrogen-ready natural gas peaking power station located at the Kogan Clean Energy Hub. The facility features 12 GE Vernova LM2500XPRESS aeroderivative turbines designed to provide fast-start firming…
Arrow Energy's 27-year Surat Gas Project (SGP) produces coal seam gas from the Surat Basin in Queensland's Darling Downs, supplying up to 700 terajoules per day once fully operational. Gas is delivered via the…
Denise Spencer Aquatic Centre RedevelopmentUnder construction · Sports & Recreation · by 2026 · Roma
$34m
Goondiwindi HydrogenUnder construction · Energy · by 2026 · Goondiwindi
$15m
13 further projects in
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa are not listed here.
Combined values on this page exclude
2 records that appear to be
separate stages of a project already counted. Both are still listed
above with their own values.
Denotes AI-based impression for illustrative purposes only, not to be taken as
definitive under any circumstances. Please follow links and conduct other
investigations from the project’s source for actual imagery. Developers and
project owners wishing us to use original imagery please Contact
Us and we will do so.
Beyond 2030:
a further $11.8bn across
2 projects with completion dates further out — mostly precinct-scale programs whose dates are
indicative. Kept out of the chart so the years you can act on stay readable.
Estimated value of tracked projects by the year they are due to
complete, stacked by how certain they are. The dark band is money already being spent;
the pale band is still an intention. Estimates are indicative and mix infrastructure
cost with whole-of-precinct development value, so read the shape rather than the totals.
Approvals PipelineDevelopment Applications in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
Development applications around
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
Development approvals is a new addition to AreaSearch.
We’re actively expanding council coverage and refining the dataset — details and statuses for some councils may be partial. Check back regularly for the latest pipeline.
Applications
—
In the local catchment
Est. Value
—
Where disclosed
Under Assessment
—
Awaiting determination
Determined
—
Approved or decided
Approvals pipelineStatus, location, timing and project scale
Loading development applications…
Lodged
Address
Description
Type
Distance
Status
SOURCE: Planning portals and council registers, compiled by AreaSearch. Distance & bearing measured from the suburb midpoint.
ProfessionalPRODevelopment Map for Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
Applications and major projects plotted where
they are actually proposed, with the
46 projects AreaSearch tracks here on their own tab — filterable by type, delivery stage,
area and committed value. To search every application on record rather
than this sample, use the section above.
DistributionWhere Development Is Happening in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa covers 8 statistical areas. Follow any of them through for a full profile of population, housing, sales and amenity at local scale.
Map builder
Each area below opens a map builder on its own page — a tool for
putting a map and a table into a report. Pick the place types you want plotted
(schools, supermarkets, medical, child care, transport and the rest of what
AreaSearch holds), add development applications as their own layer, drop your own
points, then recolour, renumber and export the result as a table or CSV.
A this area only toggle clips everything to the boundary you are looking at.
Searches are charged against your credit balance — 1 credit per 40
results from AreaSearch data — and setting filters costs nothing until
you search. The builder works on one suburb-sized area at a time, which is why it
opens per area rather than across the whole of
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa.
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa spans 4 local government areas — Western Downs, Maranoa, Goondiwindi and Balonne. Applications here are assessed by whichever of those councils the site falls within. AreaSearch publishes development
figures at ABS statistical boundaries rather than council boundaries. That is deliberate: the ABS
issues a separate official building-approvals series for local government areas, and totals
built up from statistical areas would not match it. Reporting at SA3 keeps every figure on this page
reconcilable with the published ABS series.
Local government area
Share of Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
Applications on record
Register read to
Western Downs
38% of residents
124
July 2026
Maranoa
29% of residents
148
July 2026
Goondiwindi
23% of residents
3
May 2026
Balonne
9.8% of residents
49
April 2026
CompareNearby Development Hubs
The same view of building approvals, applications and
major projects for areas neighbouring Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa.
Data & MethodSources & Method for Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa
The four tenses, and what each one can tell you
Proposed — development applications
Collected from council planning portals. The
earliest signal available, but the least certain: many applications are amended,
withdrawn or refused, values are the applicant’s own estimate, and coverage
varies by council. This is a curated set, not the full council feed:
AreaSearch carries applications of material scale and does not track routine minor
works such as signage, fencing or small alterations, so the counts here are lower
than a council’s own total lodgement figure and should not be compared with it. Applications still shown as under assessment more than
18 months after lodgement are reported separately
and kept out of the live-queue figures: the age profile of open applications is
sharply split between a genuine queue under a year old and a long tail of records
councils never closed. Not every state publishes a cost of works — Queensland,
the Northern Territory and the ACT publish none at all — so on those pages
applications are counted rather than valued and no dollar figure is shown
rather than a partial one. Treated here as a snapshot of the current queue only —
AreaSearch does not chart application counts over time, because the history
reflects when each portal was collected rather than when development happened.
Approved — ABS building approvals
The official series, aggregated to SA3 from
ABS building approvals data, currently published to June 2026.
Counts dwelling units approved, not buildings and not completions. The most recent
financial year is annualised from nine months of data wherever it appears and is
labelled as such.
Building — major projects
Projects tracked individually by AreaSearch
from Infrastructure Australia, state infrastructure agencies, developer disclosures
and council records. Values are estimates and delivery dates are targets. Ranked on
this page by committed value and delivery stage rather than by distance.
Delivered — verified new addresses
New residential addresses verified in the national
address register since the 2021 Census. This is the closest available measure of what has
actually been built, though address creation can lead occupation and lags
construction. It is not a completions count.
Boundaries
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa is Statistical Area Level 3 30701 in the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard (2021 edition), made up of 8 Statistical Areas Level 2.
It has an estimated 45,796 residents, +3.5% since the 2021 Census.
Currency
Measure
Source
To
Dwelling approvals, five-year average
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
House share of approvals
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Residents per approval
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Value per approved dwelling
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Commercial work approved
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Verified new addresses since the Census
Address register / AreaSearch
May 2026
Development applications
Council planning portals
July 2026
Major projects
Infrastructure Australia / state agencies / AreaSearch
Ongoing
Figures on this page are read live from the
AreaSearch database each time it loads, so they update as soon as a source does.
Development in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa — common questions
How many new dwellings were approved in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa?
The ABS recorded 70 dwelling approvals across Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa in the 2024-25 financial year, against a five-year average of 68 a year.
How many development applications are lodged in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa?
AreaSearch tracks 324 development applications of material scale across Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa — routine minor works such as signage and fencing are not included, so this is not a count of every application lodged, of which 25 remain in assessment. Applications are assessed within the Western Downs, Maranoa and Goondiwindi local government areas. The most recent application in our data was lodged in July 2026.
What major projects are planned for Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa?
AreaSearch tracks 28 current major projects in Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa, 14 of them under construction. The largest include Origin Energy Darling Downs Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), Brigalow Peaking Power Plant and Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project.
Which council covers Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa?
Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa is an ABS Statistical Area Level 3. It is covered by parts of 4 local government areas — Western Downs, Maranoa, Goondiwindi and Balonne. AreaSearch publishes development figures at ABS statistical boundaries rather than council boundaries, so they reconcile with the official ABS series.
Is Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa growing faster than the rest of Queensland?
On development approvals, Darling Downs (West) - Maranoa is adding new dwellings more slowly than Queensland as a whole — 0.14 approvals per 100 existing dwellings a year against the state figure of 0.77.
How current is this development data?
ABS building approvals are published with a lag of roughly four months; this page carries the series to June 2026. Development applications are collected from council planning portals and refresh continuously, with the most recent application here lodged in July 2026. Major project records are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Each section carries its own currency label so the four are never confused.
Development data is provided for general information.
Estimated values, dwelling counts and delivery dates come from the lodging or delivering party and
are not independently verified by AreaSearch. Confirm anything material with the relevant council
or agency before relying on it.
Denotes AI-based impression for illustrative purposes only, not to be taken as
definitive under any circumstances. Please follow links and conduct other
investigations from the project’s source for actual imagery. Developers and
project owners wishing us to use original imagery please Contact
Us and we will do so.