It's one thing to talk about building a new city. It's another thing entirely to open the front door and let people walk through it. That's exactly what happened recently when the Lilywood Landings Display Village held its grand opening in Waraba and the response was hard to ignore, with around 600 people showing up on the day.

The event took over Merryvale Circuit with free food, coffee, ice cream, giveaways and kids' entertainment, giving the whole thing a genuine community feel rather than a hard sales push. Across 31 completed display homes from 18 Queensland builders, visitors could wander through a broad mix of designs and get a real sense of what life in Waraba might actually look like.

Waraba previously known as Caboolture West is one of the most ambitious urban development projects in the state's history. The plan spans roughly 40 years and sits within the City of Moreton Bay, with the end goal being around 30,000 homes, multiple schools, parks, sporting facilities, a town centre, and a population of up to 70,000 people. It's a proper city-building exercise, not just another housing estate.

The display village sits within Lilywood, Waraba's first suburb, and developer Lennium Group says strong sales since the project launched in mid-2024 have them already planning the next land release. For a project of this scale, that kind of early momentum matters.

The builder line-up on display is a who's who of Queensland residential construction, including Brighton Homes, Burbank, Metricon, Simonds, Glenvill, Dare Homes and a swag of others. Each home was styled with its own individual activation, so rather than a repetitive walk through identical floorplans, visitors actually got variety different layouts, finishes and approaches to modern Queensland living all sitting side by side.

Master Builders Queensland was involved in delivering the village and their Manager of Display Villages, Greg Byrne, noted the quality of homes and the level of public interest on the day were both outstanding. That's not just developer spin either the construction sector has had a tough few years, so a display village turnout like this is genuinely good news for builder confidence in the region.

For anyone thinking about building in the area, the Lilywood Landings Display Village and Sales Centre is open Saturday to Wednesday from 10am to 4pm at 4 Merryvale Circuit, Lilywood. It's worth a look even if you're just curious about where this part of Moreton Bay is headed.