Residents of a suburban Gold Coast development site say they are about to start digging for cash, days after a stash of old bank notes was found in their neighbourhood.

Key points: Hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash has been found at a Gold Coast property

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash has been found at a Gold Coast property Queensland Police are carrying out forensic testing on the money

Queensland Police are carrying out forensic testing on the money A neighbour says the find as "amazing" and plans to search her own property

On Thursday, tradesmen at a Runaway Bay site on the Gold Coast called police after finding paper money hidden in several large plastic containers buried at an excavation site.

Queensland police confirmed the discovery and said forensic testing was being carried out by the Criminal Investigation Branch.

A police spokeswoman could not confirm what currency the money was but it is believed to be old-style $100 paper notes, valued at around $200,000.

The property, which was previously valued at $1.7 million, was recently sold to developers after the owner died.

Gina Christeson, a neighbouring resident, said the discovery had sent minds racing in the coastal suburb.

"Very quiet area, very quiet, so it's amazing when you live in such a quiet area and you put the television on and there's a neighbour having — was it $150,000 — buried in their garden," she said.

"We're going to get the excavator in tomorrow and we think we might start digging because who knows."

"[It's] old money, [but] we don't mind. We're not that fussy."

The property was recently sold to developers after the owner died. ( ABC News: Jennifer Huxley )

Ms Christeson said the search was unlikely to be a joint effort among neighbours.

"I don't think they trust each other enough, they'd rather do it alone.

"There's too much money to trust others isn't it."

She said anyone who discovered money would have trouble figuring out what to do with it.

"It's very old notes so really you couldn't have gone far with them," she said.

Gina would not speculate on where the money came from but conceded it had probably caused some trouble for the developers.

"It's amazing and you just wonder if the whole development will be held up now or if forensics go further and, yes, it could be quite a nuisance for any developer."