Redlands at a glance

At a glance

The business base

There were 12,896 actively trading businesses in the Redland City local government area at 30 June 2025, up 78 businesses (0.6 per cent) over 2024-25 from 12,818 at 30 June 2024. Brisbane City grew 2.4 per cent over the same year in the same ABS extract, so Redland is not adding businesses at the metropolitan rate. The local government area covers 537.2 square kilometres, and construction was the largest division by business count.

What is over represented

Construction, and by a wide margin. There were 3,156 construction businesses at 30 June 2024, 24.6 per cent of the Redland base against 17.1 per cent for Queensland and 12.5 per cent for Brisbane City, an index of 1.44. That is roughly one business in four, and 3.6 per cent of every construction business in the state. Electricity, gas, water and waste services follows at 1.51 on 58 businesses, and manufacturing at 1.22 on 561, which is unusual for an outer bayside residential area.

Where the businesses are

The Redland City Plan names the commercial geography directly. Capalaba and Cleveland carry the Principal Centre zone, Victoria Point the Major Centre zone, and Alexandra Hills, Birkdale and Redland Bay the District Centre zone. Industrial land sits in the Mixed Use, Low Impact Industry, Medium Impact Industry, and Waterfront and Marine Industry zones, the last of which has no equivalent in a landlocked scheme. Capalaba’s industrial streets run along Redland Bay Road, Old Cleveland Road East, Ney Road and Moreton Bay Road. Council does not publish a branded estate list, so the industrial geography here is described by zone and by street.

Who the buyers are

Trade buyers, owner operators buying a job with a book of work, and, above about $2 million of turnover, buyers from outside the region. The size profile explains why. At 30 June 2024, 57.5 per cent of Redland businesses were non employing and 88.5 per cent employed fewer than five people. Only 260 businesses (2.0 per cent) employed 20 or more, and only 866 (6.8 per cent) turned over $2 million or more a year. In 2023-24 the 5 to 19 employee band recorded 40 entries against 87 exits, so the pool of local buyers with a management layer and a balance sheet is thin.

The local friction

Redland City Council is also the water and sewerage service provider, so trade waste sits with the same body that assesses your development application. The trade waste approval cannot be transferred, and a new owner or a new lease means a fresh application at $201.50 for 2026-27. The food business licence does transfer, at $407.00 plus a pro rata fee, and council offers a pre-sale inspection at $713.00. A footpath dining approval transfers for $120.00. A prescribed environmentally relevant activity transfers for $407.00, subject to the new operator being assessed as suitable.

What decides the price

Owner dependence first, because 57.5 per cent of the base is non employing and a business with staff and systems is the exception rather than the rule here. After that, the hazard overlay on your premises, which on the bayside is storm tide rather than riverine flooding. For a construction business, a buyer weighs exposure to residential work: building approvals in 2024 were $566 million residential against $89 million non residential, so 86.4 per cent of the approved value was housing. For an island business, the buyer weighs the ferry dependent freight cost.