by Jemma Pearson MPP dons the leg warmers and pops Duran Duran in the Walkman for a walk down ’80s memory lane.

We can perhaps thank the baby boomer generation for this. It was their parents who fuelled a massive building and construction phase that began at the end of the Second World War when home ownership was around just 40 per cent. New suburbs sprang up to accommodate the exploding population, and the occupants wanted to claim and maintain their precious piece of dirt.

It was around this time that the Sunshine Coast’s reputation as a holiday destination grew. Before a busy period of development in the 1960s and ’70s, the region was essentially a collection of farms and rural villages. Still, it wasn’t until the ’80s that our permanent population really began to expand. And since then, the growth of our region has been incredible. Talk to locals about how the Sunshine Coast has changed in just 25 or 30 years and they’ll probably tell you how master-planned communities have replaced small estates, brick and tiles have made way for render and Colorbond, and the backyard has been taken over by the year-round outdoor room.

Vic Murphy Real Estate’s Glennis Schindler is a second generation Sunshine Coast agent. She describes the typical ’70s Coast home as “three bed, one bath, single lock-up and no entertaining area”, adding that the design was fairly standard – there was not a lot of call for inventive styles back then.

First National Maroochydore principal Rod McLean says, “Back in 1989, three bed with a carport and one bathroom was the standard Maroochydore home. Now it is double lock-up and ensuite with media room and office. I think the home office is an important feature.”

The addition of extra entertaining and work areas is a reflection of our changing lifestyles. We want our homes to be everything – work space, entertaining space – not just the place we go to rest our heads at night.

“Around the mid ’80s it started changing for houses with the second bathroom,” says Jean Hamer, an agent who has been selling on the Sunshine Coast for more than 40 years. “We were starting to really build the outside areas as well.”

While now we can’t imagine a decent Sunshine Coast home without a beautifully landscaped backyard, there was a time, and not that long ago, that we didn’t give the old patch of grass much thought. “We didn’t entertain outside like we do now,” says Glennis. “Horton Park golf course was out the back of the house I grew up in on Maud Street.” But the family didn’t spend much time gazing over the beautiful fairways. “Our bedrooms with small windows were out the back.”

Glennis says homes were just not designed to take in those sort of views. “We appreciated views back then but didn’t know how to utilise them from the home.” Houses weren’t designed for aspect either, and capturing cooling summer breezes and warming winter rays were just not considered by many building designers.

Looking back, “the canal homes weren’t what they are now”, adds Glennis. “When Kawana Estates was first opened it was difficult land to sell and those blocks got sold quite cheap. They had bedrooms at the back and living out front. Now everyone is renovating and turning them around so the living areas face the canals.”

“Without a doubt people are becoming more conscious of landscaping and the backyard,” agrees Rod. “They are looking for that area at home where they can entertain. The well-designed courtyard is becoming another room, and people in townhouses are looking for those spacious well-designed [outdoor areas] because of the climate we are in. Eating in is more social” and a lot less expensive than going out. The backyard barbie, adds Rod, is more popular than ever, but we’re no longer content with just a Weber and outdoor setting. Step back to the ’80s and mention an outdoor kitchen to a Coast builder and they would have laughed at you, but now any medium- to high-end home worth inspecting has an alfresco area with plumbed-in fridge and sink.

In the late ’80s a unit that was selling for $80,000 is now getting $350,000 to $400,000. It used to be that [property prices] would double every seven to 10 years. With the tough few years the market has had, that’s not going to be the same, but it will start moving again. Jean Hamer

Ironically though, while we are all gravitating outdoors, the average backyard is disappearing as a growing population forces house blocks to shrink. “There used to be big yards with every house,” says Jean, but that is changing. So are our expectations. Jean points to Sunshine Cove, which offers compact blocks. “Beautiful properties without a yard,” she says. And Jean believes they will prove popular as “people don’t want to spend all weekend mowing the lawn”.

Another marked change in the landscape of Sunshine Coast property is the rise of units and multi-dwelling blocks. And it is in units that Jean has seen one of the biggest changes since the 1980s. Back then, units were built with only the holidaymaker in mind – with little storage and just one car space. Many were built, says Jean, with a view to how many could be squeezed onto a block. That philosophy is changing, but it has been only since the ’90s that builders have been constructing units for people to live in, with much more thoughtful designs featuring plenty of storage, extra bedrooms and more of the features of a detached home.

So where did people want to live in the 1980s? “Kawana was hard to sell until people realised that they weren’t going to be flooded, but that took a while,” says Glennis. “The river areas and Maroochy Waters were popular because of the water – by that stage buyers had caught on that Kawana wasn’t going to flood and canals were okay. The Alex golden triangle was always popular, and on top of Buderim because of the views.”

Not much has changed there, but for Jean the surprises are suburbs like Chancellor Park. Areas that were once considered the boondocks or didn’t even exist in the ’80s are now hugely popular with families. The 1980s buyer would not have even looked at a property if it was a 10- rather than a two-minute walk to the beach. Now buyers are happy to have to jump in the car for 10 minutes in order to dip their toes in the ocean as long as there is a good school and park close to home. “Our perception of where land is and how close and convenient it is to the beach has really changed,” says Jean.

I wish I had bought more property in Kuluin and Alex Headland. From an investment point of view, Kuluin has held. And places like Pacific Paradise – people just don’t realise there are lots of nice subdivisions [around there]. Rod McLean

Jean believes many of Mooloolaba’s properties are prime sites just waiting to be redeveloped. “What in those days we thought was a long walk to the beach we now consider really close.” There are, says Jean, still many humble homes in fantastic locations that are just waiting to be knocked down or renovated.

We are growing up, but so is our region. If the ’60s and ’70s were the birth of the modern-day Sunshine Coast, the ’80s was perhaps our awkward youth. By the ’90s we were evolving up and out, and now as an adult, the Coast has defined itself as a responsible grown-up, a family-friendly place to raise the kids.

But while our region will continue to grow, our houses probably won’t. While the three-bed brick and tiles will continue to be knocked down for the odd McMansion, there are many more cost-conscious Sunshine Coasters who are willing to scale back and forgo those extra couple of bedrooms and media space. “They want a simpler life,” says Rod.

And isn’t that why most of us moved here in the first place?