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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Forbes River is a coastal suburb in New South Wales, Australia, with a population of approximately 20, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 311 km from the Sydney CBD, Forbes River is a coastal area in New South Wales. The median household income is $142,948 per year.
Strong household incomes in Forbes River underpin solid property demand. Coastal lifestyle appeal adds a premium that supports long-term demand.
Official Australia Post postcode for Forbes River. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Forbes River on My School →Estimated 1 park and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Forbes River is a smaller community of 20 — about 0% of the New South Wales suburb median (5,325) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $142,948/year runs 47% above the New South Wales suburb median of $97,552, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Forbes River is 311 km from Sydney, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Separate houses make up 300% of dwellings — 224 percentage points above the New South Wales median of 76% — pointing to a family-oriented, land-rich market where value is concentrated in the underlying block.
How Forbes River stacks up against the median of all New South Wales suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Forbes River sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Forbes River | NSW median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 20 | 5,325 | -100% |
| Median household income | $142,948/yr | $97,552/yr | +47% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,000 | $2,167 | -8% |
| Distance to CBD | 311 km | 45 km | +591% |
| Separate houses | 300% | 76% | +224pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Forbes River — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 20 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider New South Wales market over full cycles.
Median rental data was not captured for Forbes River. Use current realestate.com.au and Domain listings to triangulate a realistic weekly rent before committing, then feed that number into our rental yield calculator.
With 300% houses in a 20-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Forbes River property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Forbes River are modest for 2026 — incomes 47% above the NSW median of $97,552 and a population of 20 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental fundamentals will need to be verified against live listings, as a clean median rent was not recorded for Forbes River. The EquitySight investment score of 57/100 places Forbes River in the mid tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
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Forbes River scores 57/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 20, median household income of $142,948/year. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Forbes River are an above-state-median household income of $142,948/year, a dwelling mix that is 300% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Forbes River has a usual resident population of approximately 20, compared with a New South Wales suburb median of 5,325 — placing it in the lower half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
Forbes River sits 311 km straight-line from the Sydney CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
A reliable median rent was not captured for Forbes River. Benchmark expected weekly rent on realestate.com.au and Domain, or the state rental tribunal's rent dashboard. Most Australian investors target a 4–5% gross yield as a baseline.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Forbes River is $2,000, or approximately $24,000/year (vs $2,167/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
Census data was not complete enough in Forbes River to compute a clean rent-to-mortgage coverage. Use current listings to benchmark weekly rent, then plug your expected purchase price into our rental yield calculator to see whether the investment runs cash-flow positive or negative.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (20 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,000 median mortgage, the broader New South Wales market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.