EquitySight.app
Free full calculator →
EquitySight.app
Free full calculator →
ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Balnagowan is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 438, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 815 km from the Brisbane CBD, Balnagowan is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $143,000 per year.
Above-average earnings in Balnagowan support sustained property values. Seaside positioning attracts both owner-occupiers and holiday rental demand.
Official Australia Post postcode for Balnagowan. 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 Balnagowan 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.
Balnagowan is a smaller community of 438 — about 8% of the Queensland suburb median (5,474) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $143,000/year runs 58% above the Queensland suburb median of $90,298, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Median rent of $275/week (~$1,192/month) covers only 55% of the median mortgage of $2,167/month — the remaining $975/month must be funded from other income, so this suburb tilts toward capital growth rather than yield. Balnagowan is 815 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
How Balnagowan stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Balnagowan sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Balnagowan | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 438 | 5,474 | -92% |
| Median household income | $143,000/yr | $90,298/yr | +58% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $275 | $385 | -29% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,167 | $1,733 | +25% |
| Distance to CBD | 815 km | 62 km | +1215% |
| Separate houses | 89% | 77% | +12pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Balnagowan — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 438 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Weak cash flow: $275/week rent covers only 55% of the $2,167/month median mortgage — a $975/month gap that must be funded from other income. This suburb is a capital-growth play, not a yield play.
With 89% houses in a 438-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 Balnagowan property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Balnagowan are modest for 2026 — incomes 58% above the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 438 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~55% of the typical mortgage ($1,192/month rent vs $2,167/month repayment), meaning investors will rely on capital growth rather than yield. The EquitySight investment score of 56/100 places Balnagowan in the mid tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
Lived in Balnagowan? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.
Balnagowan scores 56/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 438, median household income of $143,000/year and median weekly rent of $275. 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 Balnagowan are an above-state-median household income of $143,000/year, a dwelling mix that is 89% 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.
Balnagowan has a usual resident population of approximately 438, compared with a Queensland suburb median of 5,474 — 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.
Balnagowan sits 815 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $275 in Balnagowan, equating to approximately $14,300/year in gross rental income (state median $385/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Balnagowan is $2,167, or approximately $26,004/year (vs $1,733/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.
A median weekly rent of $275 works out to $1,192/month, covering 55% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,167/month. That leaves a $975/month shortfall (around $11,700/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (438 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,167 median mortgage, the broader Queensland 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.