BEWARE. A multi-storey apartment block is heading to a suburb near you.

QUIET, leafy corners of Brisbane and other parts of southeast Queensland could soon be overshadowed by high- rise apartment towers under a controversial planning strategy to build up instead of out.

A snapshot of the planning strategy for Brisbane to deal with massive population growth expected over the next 20 years shows high-rise development spreading to the outer suburbs, with concentrations of towers around transport nodes.

But resident groups - fearful Brisbane will be turned into Sardine City - are vowing to fight the high-rise invasion.

There have been a string of protests by residential groups lobbying against the changes in older suburbs such as Corinda through to the inner-city bohemian hub of West End, where 30-storey towers are on the drawing board.

The backlash has forced Brisbane City Council to relax some of its plans for higher density development.

But the fight is guaranteed to intensify as the rollout of high-rises intensifies.

Council figures show town planning officials have paved the way for an estimated 64,700 new residents in suburbs from Bracken Ridge on the northside to Corinda on the southside.

South Brisbane residents should prepare for a projected 25,500 extra residents by 2031.

The estimates have been devised by the council from some of the most advanced neighbourhood planning documents, with several other plans yet to be finalised.

Neighbourhood planning was introduced by Lord Mayor Campbell Newman in 2004 to give residents more say but has failed to avoid bitter disputes with residents.

One group of residents at Bridgeman Downs has labelled their growth plan a farce after development proposals were ticked off by the council, undermining the new blueprint before it could even be adopted.

"To get it all done and (for) them to just completely ignore it is a joke," Bridgeman Downs resident Earl Baskerville said.

A spokesman for the Lord Mayor said even if the plan had been adopted, property owners retained their development rights under the former town plan for up to two years.

The Bridgeman Downs group is just one of a growing number battling growth plans in their back yards.

The West End Community Association is involved in a no-holds-barred fight against high-density plans in its suburb. And in Sherwood and Corinda, the Walter Taylor South Action Group is pushing to topple plans for five-storey buildings.

Action group secretary Leigh Park said the council had done well in listening to their concerns and boosting protection to character housing in the area - a far cry from the strategy before Cr Newman.

It had also reduced the footprint of an area of Corinda planned for five-storey buildings after public opposition.

But she said in return it had increased the size of a precinct at Sherwood, proposing five-storey buildings.

Ms Park said the result would be added pressure on congested roads and public transport, while destroying the visual impact of old suburbs.

"The argument is it is only confined to a small percentage of the area, but the visual impact is quite significant," she said.

Council Neighbourhood Planning chairwoman Amanda Cooper said the fact there were protest groups objecting to the plans showed the strategy was working.

Opposition planning spokesman Milton Dick said the plans had not lived up to their expectation of listening to residents' concerns.

Housing supply dwindles

QUEENSLAND needs to build more than 900,000 new houses and units in the next 21 years to meet projected population growth.

But new figures show reality will fail to meet expectations with under-supply expected to grow into tens of thousands on current approval numbers.

Experts say the shortage will force up the price of housing, including rents, and possibly leave a generation of adults unable to afford a new home.

In 2009, there was a shortfall of more than 10,000 houses on the 47,000 needed to match population growth.

Figures from Queensland Treasury and the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the under-supply was spread across the state. Brisbane built nearly 2000 fewer dwellings than needed last year, while in the north, Townsville and Cairns were down 1000 and 800 respectively. Toowoomba's housing shortfall was more than 450.

With demand exceeding supply, first-home buyers, already jittery following interest rate rises, have even less chance of entering the market.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland managing director Dan Molloy said recent research showed first-home buyers were down 60 per cent on March 2009.

"These figures really show how much of a struggle it is for prospective homeowners to get into the market in Queensland," Mr Molloy said.

Master Builders housing policy director Paul Bidwell said the biggest issue was developers' inability to access finance from banks.

Red tape from local councils, massive infrastructure charges and lack of available land were also serious issues.

"It's biting at a number of levels," he said. "Developers can't get access to funds and it's harder for buyers to get home loans approved."

Queensland Council of Social Service director Jill Lang said those on lower incomes were increasingly bidding for rental properties alongside households which have traditionally been able to buy into the property market.

Queensland's population is expected to increase from 4.5 million to as much as 7 million by 2031.