BOOM BOOM ... The Boom goes on

Quite apart from being one of the best climate and lifestyle places in the world to live, the Sunshine Coast area is also one of Australia's great business boom regions, with no end to the boom in sight.

The Sunshine Coast is also one of the fastest growing regions in Australia - growing at around twice the rate of Queensland itself. Current (2007) population is around 273,000 with a growth rate of about 3.9%. In fact, the Coast's population is expected to grow to around 440,000 people by 2020!

But, much more importantly, the latest statistics show that by far the largest percentage (90%) of that growth is people under 50 - mostly working, income earning people. This is a major reason for the dynamic, growing local economy.

And we're no isolated region either. We are just an hour's drive from the State capital, Brisbane, and there are more than 100 weekly jet services to and from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, plus regional services to other parts of Queensland. All told, Maroochy Airport now has around 750,000 passenger movements a year!

Tourism growth is also spectacular. In just 3 years more than 1 million additional visitors visited the area. As fast as new holiday resorts and accommodation are built, they're filled!

Of course, all of this people growth spells business growth too. The number of companies here that turn-over more than $1 million a year has increased exponentially and that growth is across the board - from retail to services to manufacturing. For example, there are nearly 60 corporate members of the official exporter's group alone, selling everything from foodstuffs to precision machinery to farm and business equipment to countries all around the world.

The State Government has a large and active local Office of State Development and the local Councils all have Business Development Departments.

There has also been massive growth in corporate infrastructure. High-level professionals - accountants, solicitors, medical - have moved here. Corporate service companies have multiplied, as have their skills. A few years ago the larger Sunshine Coast companies sourced much of their specialised requirements from Brisbane and other capitals. Not so now! Now it's the Sunshine Coast companies that are selling goods and services to other centres.

The end result of this is that the average size of the businesses here has grown dramatically too. The typical size of the businesses we sell here has more than doubled in 3 years and, because overall demand growth is so powerful, there is a constantly increasing enquiry for these bigger, more profitable businesses.

In short, there isn't a better place to live, and there definitely isn't a better place to buy and build a business than Queensland's Sunshine Coast.