THE Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA) is looking at ways to ensure that all the homes built at Clinton aren’t bought by investors, ULDA chief Paul Eagles told The Observer today.

“Although there is an expectation that some of the homes may be bought as an investment.”

Mr Eagles statement comes after a number of Gladstone locals raised concerns regarding the housing development and the sale of the homes. The concern is that the homes that are meant for low-income earners will end up in the hands of investors.

Kay Blows whose home backs onto the new development at Clinton said she put in a submission asking how they would stop investors buying as currently there is nothing in place to stop them.

“The answer I got is it will only happen in a couple of cases and it has been proven that in other ULDA developments only a small number of investors buy the houses,” Ms Blows said.

Mr Eagles said an important aspect of delivering affordable housing is making sure the homes are being targeted at the right people such as non-mining key workers and owner/occupiers.

“The ULDA is currently investigating ways to ensure that a majority of homes will be sold only to owner/occupiers,” Mr Eagles said.

Ms Blows said Gladstone is completely different to anywhere else in Queensland with house prices bucking the trend compared to the rest on the state.

“Investors will buy cheap housing and then rent the houses out at the going rate,” Ms Blows said.

The intention of the ULDA is for the majority of homes to be sold as house and land packages structured as separate land and house contracts, the land contract between the purchaser and the ULDA and the house contract between the purchaser and the builder.

Last year the Minister for Infrastructure Stirling Hinchliffe said the house contracts will have no special provisions regarding length of time the purchaser has to retain the home.

“It’s a contradiction,” Ms Blows said.

“Mr Eagles says the homes are being targeted to owner/occupiers and Mr Hinchliffe says there are no special provisions regarding the length of time the purchaser has to retain the home; it’s so hard just to get a straight answer that’s believable,” she said.