Suburb overview
Fairfield is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Brisbane, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,106, making it a boutique locality. Located 4 km from the Brisbane CBD, Fairfield is a middle ring area in Queensland. The median household income is $117,884 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4103
Postcode for Fairfield, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
3,106
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$420/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
4 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,100/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
60% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Fairfield
- Close to Brisbane — roughly 4 km from the CBD, ideal for city workers.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Fairfield suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Short distance to the CBD makes commuting straightforward.
- Established middle-ring position between the CBD and the urban fringe.
Cons
- Median mortgage sits above the Queensland state median — entry costs are stretched.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
Fairfield is a smaller community of 3,106 — about 57% 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 $117,884/year runs 31% 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 $420/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) covers about 87% of the $2,100/month median mortgage repayment recorded at the 2021 Census, leaving a gap of roughly $280/month on those figures — and since the mortgage baseline predates the post-2021 rate rises, the real gap on a new loan is likely wider. At 4 km from the Brisbane CBD, Fairfield sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 60% 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
This suburb suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 18% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Fairfield vs Queensland median
How Fairfield stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Fairfield sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Fairfield | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,106 | 5,474 | -43% |
| Median household income | $117,884/yr | $90,298/yr | +31% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $410 | $385 | +6% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,100 | $1,733 | +21% |
| Distance to CBD | 4 km | 62 km | -94% |
| Separate houses | 60% | 77% | -17pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Fairfield — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,106 residents — 57% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $117,884/year (+31% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $410/week rent (≈ $1,777/month) covered ~85% of the $2,100/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 4 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 60% separate houses — mixed market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$210/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,100/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 18% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 31% above the Queensland suburb median ($117,884 vs $90,298), and the 4 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Queensland, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $410/week (~$1,777/month) covered 85% of the $2,100/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $323/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
Only 60% 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 $2,100/month median mortgage in Fairfield means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $210/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Premium-pricing risk: incomes 31% above the Queensland median ($117,884 vs $90,298) correlate with elevated purchase prices and compressed gross yields — enter only with a clear capital-growth thesis and a comfortable deposit.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,106 residents, Fairfield has a thinner pool of buyers and tenants than larger suburbs. Expect longer days-on-market on resale and budget for potential vacancy gaps between tenancies.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Fairfield regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Fairfield 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 Fairfield property
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Start your journey near Fairfield →2026 outlook
Fairfield enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 31% above the Queensland suburb median of $90,298 and a population of 3,106 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider QLD market over the next 12–18 months. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~85% of the typical mortgage ($1,777/month rent vs $2,100/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Fairfield 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 Fairfield a good suburb for investment?
Whether Fairfield suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,106, a median household income of $117,884/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 Fairfield?
The main demand drivers in Fairfield are proximity to Brisbane (4 km), an above-state-median household income of $117,884/year, a dwelling mix that is 60% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Fairfield?
Fairfield has a usual resident population of approximately 3,106, 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.
How far is Fairfield from the Brisbane CBD?
Fairfield sits 4 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Brisbane employment nodes.
What is the median rent in Fairfield?
The median weekly rent in Fairfield is $420 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $21,840/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 Fairfield?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Fairfield is $2,100, or approximately $25,200/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 Fairfield cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $410 works out to $1,777/month, covering 85% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,100/month. That leaves a $323/month shortfall (around $3,876/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 Fairfield?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,106 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,100 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 Fairfield 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.