Suburb overview
Bracken Ridge is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Brisbane, Australia, with a population of approximately 17,488, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 17 km from the Brisbane CBD, Bracken Ridge is a middle ring area in Queensland. The median household income is $102,544 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4017
Postcode for Bracken Ridge, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
17,488
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$690/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
17 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,800/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
85% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Bracken Ridge
- Well-connected to Brisbane at ~17 km from the CBD.
- Predominantly separate houses (85%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Bracken Ridge suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Established middle-ring position between the CBD and the urban fringe.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
- Prices may rise further as demand continues.
Investment insight
With 17,488 residents, Bracken Ridge is one of Queensland's more populous suburbs — roughly 3.2× the state median of 5,474 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Households here earn $102,544/year on average — 14% above the QLD suburb median of $90,298 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. Median rent of $690/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,990/month — about 166% of the $1,800/month median mortgage repayment recorded at the 2021 Census. On those figures rental income covers most or all of the recorded repayment, but repayments on new loans have risen with interest rates since 2021, so re-run the coverage at today's rates before treating this as a cash-flow suburb. 17 km from Brisbane places Bracken Ridge in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Investment tip
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 21% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Bracken Ridge vs Queensland median
How Bracken Ridge stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Bracken Ridge sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Bracken Ridge | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 17,488 | 5,474 | +219% |
| Median household income | $102,544/yr | $90,298/yr | +14% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $410 | $385 | +6% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,800 | $1,733 | +4% |
| Distance to CBD | 17 km | 62 km | -73% |
| Separate houses | 85% | 77% | +8pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Bracken Ridge — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 17,488 residents — 319% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $102,544/year (+14% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $410/week rent (≈ $1,777/month) covered ~99% of the $1,800/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 17 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 85% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$180/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,800/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 21% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 17,488 and household income close to the QLD median ($102,544 vs $90,298) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $410/week (~$1,777/month) covered 99% of the $1,800/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $23/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 85% houses in a 17,488-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,800/month median mortgage in Bracken Ridge means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $180/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- House-dominant stock: 85% of dwellings are separate houses, so value is concentrated in land — weather events, insurance repricing and land-tax changes hit investors here more directly than in a unit-heavy suburb.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Bracken Ridge regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Bracken Ridge with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
Run the numbers on a Bracken Ridge property
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Start your journey near Bracken Ridge →2026 outlook
Property values in Bracken Ridge should track the wider Queensland market through 2026, with the $102,544/year median household income (14% above the $90,298 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~99% of the typical mortgage ($1,777/month rent vs $1,800/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Bracken Ridge is constructive heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Queensland median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bracken Ridge a good suburb for investment?
Whether Bracken Ridge suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 17,488, a median household income of $102,544/year and median weekly rent of $410. Weigh those against your goal — cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — each of which we break down with suburb-specific ABS numbers elsewhere on this page.
What drives property demand in Bracken Ridge?
The main demand drivers in Bracken Ridge are proximity to Brisbane (17 km), an above-state-median household income of $102,544/year, a dwelling mix that is 85% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Bracken Ridge?
Bracken Ridge has a usual resident population of approximately 17,488, compared with a Queensland suburb median of 5,474 — placing it in the upper 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.
How far is Bracken Ridge from the Brisbane CBD?
Bracken Ridge sits 17 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
What is the median rent in Bracken Ridge?
The median weekly rent in Bracken Ridge is $690 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $35,880/year in gross rental income. Confirm against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
What is the typical mortgage repayment in Bracken Ridge?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Bracken Ridge is $1,800, or approximately $21,600/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.
Is Bracken Ridge cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $410 works out to $1,777/month, covering 99% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,800/month. That leaves a $23/month shortfall (around $276/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.
What are the main risks of investing in Bracken Ridge?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,800 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.
How we built this Bracken Ridge profile
The population figure on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census. The postcode comes from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. The dwelling mix is from the ABS 2021 Census. The median household income is the ABS 2021 Census median weekly household income, annualised. Distance to the CBD is calculated from the suburb's ABS centroid. The Census median rent and mortgage figures are 2021 figures and are labelled as such wherever they appear — they are five years old and have moved substantially since. The current median weekly rent in Key indicators is a genuine recent figure from Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (Mar 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. We do not publish an investment score or school/park counts for this suburb. See our methodology and data sources for exactly what's measured and what's estimated.