EquitySight.app
Free full calculator →
EquitySight.app
Free full calculator →
ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Mackay Harbour is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 686, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 805 km from the Brisbane CBD, Mackay Harbour is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $108,108 per year.
Strong household incomes in Mackay Harbour underpin solid property demand. Seaside positioning attracts both owner-occupiers and holiday rental demand.
Official Australia Post postcode for Mackay Harbour. 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 Mackay Harbour 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.
Mackay Harbour is a smaller community of 686 — about 13% 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 $108,108/year runs 20% 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 weekly rent of $500 equates to $2,167/month — about 100% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,167/month — meaning rental income covers most of a typical owner's repayment and this is a genuine cash-flow suburb before tax benefits. Mackay Harbour is 805 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 7% 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.
How Mackay Harbour stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Mackay Harbour sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Mackay Harbour | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 686 | 5,474 | -87% |
| Median household income | $108,108/yr | $90,298/yr | +20% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $500 | $385 | +30% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,167 | $1,733 | +25% |
| Distance to CBD | 805 km | 62 km | +1198% |
| Separate houses | 7% | 77% | -70pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Mackay Harbour — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 686 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage: $500/week (~$2,167/month) covers 100% of the $2,167/month median mortgage repayment, so the shortfall sits at just $0/month. Investors targeting positive cash flow should shortlist this suburb.
Only 7% 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.
Run the numbers on a Mackay Harbour property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Mackay Harbour are modest for 2026 — incomes 20% above the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 686 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~100% of the typical mortgage ($2,167/month rent vs $2,167/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 56/100 places Mackay Harbour in the mid tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
Lived in Mackay Harbour? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.
Mackay Harbour scores 56/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 686, median household income of $108,108/year and median weekly rent of $500. 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 Mackay Harbour are an above-state-median household income of $108,108/year, a dwelling mix that is 7% 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.
Mackay Harbour has a usual resident population of approximately 686, 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.
Mackay Harbour sits 805 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 $500 in Mackay Harbour, equating to approximately $26,000/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 Mackay Harbour 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 $500 works out to $2,167/month, covering 100% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,167/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $-0/month, so on these numbers Mackay Harbour leans cash-flow-positive before accounting for strata, council rates, insurance and maintenance. 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 (686 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,167 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (7% 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.
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.