More than 100 homes will be built in Murray Bridge with the launch of a $45m housing estate

The project, between Hindmarsh and Old Swanport roads, is being led by Adelaide developer Oceanic Properties and Investment Group, and will consist of 118 lots on 9ha of vacant land near the southern edge of the town.

The first two stages of the five-stage project, known as Hindmarsh Estate, have been released to the market, including close to half of the estate’s total number of blocks.

Land prices start from $104,500, with early civil construction works recently getting underway. Oceanic Properties director Viv Chauhan said the affordability would appeal to first-home owners while families would be attracted to the estate’s larger blocks, which ranged from about 500sq m to 770sq m.

“We are injecting $45m during the development and construction phase and creating more than 200 jobs during construction,” he said.

This is great news for regional South Australia and particularly Murray Bridge.“

The housing requirement in Murray Bridge is very big – the town needs 200 houses a year minimum for the next five to seven years.”

Mr Chauhan, pictured, said a new $300m abattoir for Thomas Foods, the planned multimillion-dollar expansion of Monarto Zoo and several other developments in the region were driving growth and demand for housing, with 10 per cent of the lots in the first stage already sold.

Burke Urban is overseeing Murray Bridge’s largest housing project, recently releasing the second stage of its $50m, 350-home Newbridge estate on the site of the former Murray Bridge Racing Club.

Raine & Horne Murray lands principal John DeMichele, who is heading up the Hindmarsh Estate sales the campaign said the region was attracting interest from local and interstate homeowners and investors.

“We’ve got so much to offer as a township – the schools, the health, the shopping,” he said.“It’s turning into a city.

“Murray Bridge is really short of accommodation and this will go a great way in sorting out some of the rental problems.”

The individual allotments are priced to suit young families, couples, first home buyers and even the savvy investor as they are the best value for money allotments currently in Murray Bridge.

Mr Chauhan runs local sportswear supplier Viva Global, while his business partner, Saranjeet Singh is a home builder who has completed several developments in Adelaide and Sydney.

On Wednesday, Thomas Foods confirmed the first stage of its new abattoir – including beef processing and animal handling facilities – would be completed by the end of next year. The meat producer posted a record profit of $98.4m for the 12 months to June, on the back of a 12.5 per cent increase in revenue to $2.24bn.