Suburb overview
Coolangatta is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 6,491, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 93 km from the Brisbane CBD, Coolangatta is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $69,212 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4225
Postcode for Coolangatta, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
6,491
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$850/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
93 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,805/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
9% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Coolangatta
- Regional location about 93 km from Brisbane.
- High-density unit mix (91% non-house dwellings) — urban, low-maintenance living.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Coolangatta suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Coastal lifestyle attracts renters and owner-occupiers alike.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (93 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
6,491 residents places Coolangatta squarely in the middle of the Queensland suburb size distribution (state median 5,474), with market depth comparable to most QLD localities. Coolangatta's median household income of $69,212/year is 23% below the Queensland suburb median ($90,298) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. Median rent of $850/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $3,683/month — about 204% of the $1,805/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. Coolangatta is 93 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 9% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 77% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
Investment tip
Coastal markets benefit from lifestyle appeal but require a buffer for higher insurance and occasional weather-driven vacancies. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 30% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Coolangatta vs Queensland median
How Coolangatta stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Coolangatta sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Coolangatta | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 6,491 | 5,474 | +19% |
| Median household income | $69,212/yr | $90,298/yr | -23% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $405 | $385 | +5% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,805 | $1,733 | +4% |
| Distance to CBD | 93 km | 62 km | +50% |
| Separate houses | 9% | 77% | -68pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Coolangatta — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 6,491 residents — 119% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $69,212/year (-23% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $405/week rent (≈ $1,755/month) covered ~97% of the $1,805/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 93 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 9% separate houses — unit-heavy market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$181/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,805/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 30% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 23% below the QLD median ($69,212 vs $90,298) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $405/week (~$1,755/month) covered 97% of the $1,805/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $50/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
Only 9% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 77% QLD median) — this is a unit and townhouse market, where cosmetic flips struggle against body-corporate restrictions, thinner after-reno uplift and competing new supply.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,805/month median mortgage in Coolangatta means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $181/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Coolangatta are 23% below the Queensland median ($69,212 vs $90,298), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Commute distance: at 93 km from the nearest CBD, Coolangatta depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- Strata exposure: only 9% of dwellings in Coolangatta are separate houses, so most investment stock is apartments or townhouses subject to body-corporate fees, sinking-fund levies and competing supply from new developments.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Coolangatta regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Coolangatta property
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Start your journey near Coolangatta →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Coolangatta are modest for 2026 — incomes 23% below the QLD median of $90,298 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~97% of the typical mortgage ($1,755/month rent vs $1,805/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Coolangatta is cautious heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Queensland median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Coolangatta a good suburb for investment?
Whether Coolangatta suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 6,491, a median household income of $69,212/year and median weekly rent of $405. 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 Coolangatta?
The main demand drivers in Coolangatta are a median household income of $69,212/year, a dwelling mix that is 9% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Coolangatta?
Coolangatta has a usual resident population of approximately 6,491, 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 Coolangatta from the Brisbane CBD?
Coolangatta sits 93 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.
What is the median rent in Coolangatta?
The median weekly rent in Coolangatta is $850 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $44,200/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 Coolangatta?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Coolangatta is $1,805, or approximately $21,660/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 Coolangatta cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $405 works out to $1,755/month, covering 97% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,805/month. That leaves a $50/month shortfall (around $600/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 Coolangatta?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,805 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($69,212 vs $90,298 state median), a unit-heavy dwelling mix (9% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, 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 Coolangatta 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.