Suburb overview
Lota is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Brisbane, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,518, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 16 km from the Brisbane CBD, Lota is a outer metro area in Queensland. The median household income is $116,272 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4179
Postcode for Lota, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
3,518
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$650/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
16 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,167/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
91% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Lota
- Middle-ring location about 16 km from Brisbane — balance of commute and affordability.
- Predominantly separate houses (91%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Newer estates with modern homes and family-sized blocks.
Who Lota suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Affordable entry point compared with inner-city suburbs.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Median mortgage sits above the Queensland state median — entry costs are stretched.
- New-estate oversupply risk — many similar homes can compete for the same buyers.
Investment insight
Lota is a smaller community of 3,518 — about 64% 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 $116,272/year runs 29% 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 $650/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,817/month — about 130% of the $2,167/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. 16 km from Brisbane places Lota 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
This suburb suits long-term investors due to steady population growth and affordable entry prices. Look for established streets close to schools and shops rather than raw new-estate land. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 19% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Lota vs Queensland median
How Lota stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Lota sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Lota | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,518 | 5,474 | -36% |
| Median household income | $116,272/yr | $90,298/yr | +29% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $415 | $385 | +8% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,167 | $1,733 | +25% |
| Distance to CBD | 16 km | 62 km | -74% |
| Separate houses | 91% | 77% | +14pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Lota — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,518 residents — 64% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $116,272/year (+29% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $415/week rent (≈ $1,798/month) covered ~83% of the $2,167/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 16 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 91% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$217/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,167/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 19% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 29% above the Queensland suburb median ($116,272 vs $90,298), and the 16 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.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $415/week covered 83% of a $2,167/month mortgage, a $369/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
With 91% houses in a 3,518-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 $2,167/month median mortgage in Lota means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $217/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Premium-pricing risk: incomes 29% above the Queensland median ($116,272 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 3,518 residents, Lota 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.
- House-dominant stock: 91% 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 Lota regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Lota property
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Start your journey near Lota →2026 outlook
Lota enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 29% above the Queensland suburb median of $90,298 and a population of 3,518 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 ~83% of the typical mortgage ($1,798/month rent vs $2,167/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Lota 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 Lota a good suburb for investment?
Whether Lota suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,518, a median household income of $116,272/year and median weekly rent of $415. 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 Lota?
The main demand drivers in Lota are proximity to Brisbane (16 km), an above-state-median household income of $116,272/year, a dwelling mix that is 91% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Lota?
Lota has a usual resident population of approximately 3,518, 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 Lota from the Brisbane CBD?
Lota sits 16 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 Lota?
The median weekly rent in Lota is $650 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $33,800/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 Lota?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Lota 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.
Is Lota cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $415 works out to $1,798/month, covering 83% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,167/month. That leaves a $369/month shortfall (around $4,428/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 Lota?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,518 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.
How we built this Lota 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.