Suburb overview
Macleay Island is a regional centre in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,193, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 37 km from the Brisbane CBD, Macleay Island is a regional area in Queensland. The median household income is $39,260 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4184
Postcode for Macleay Island, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
3,193
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$490/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
37 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$900/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
82% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Macleay Island
- Family-friendly fringe location — around 37 km from Brisbane.
- Predominantly separate houses (82%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who Macleay Island suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Mortgage costs are lower than the Queensland median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Lower purchase prices and more land for the money.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Rent-to-income ratio is above comfortable thresholds — watch tenant affordability.
- Long distance to the CBD (37 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
Investment insight
Macleay Island is a smaller community of 3,193 — about 58% of the Queensland suburb median (5,474) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Macleay Island's median household income of $39,260/year is 57% 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 $490/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,123/month — about 236% of the $900/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. At 37 km from Brisbane, Macleay Island is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price.
Investment tip
Regional property can deliver strong cash-flow yields but liquidity is tighter — plan for longer hold periods and verify local employment stability. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 34% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Macleay Island vs Queensland median
How Macleay Island stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Macleay Island sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Macleay Island | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,193 | 5,474 | -42% |
| Median household income | $39,260/yr | $90,298/yr | -57% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $260 | $385 | -32% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $900 | $1,733 | -48% |
| Distance to CBD | 37 km | 62 km | -40% |
| Separate houses | 82% | 77% | +5pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Macleay Island — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,193 residents — 58% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $39,260/year (-57% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $260/week rent (≈ $1,127/month) covered ~125% of the $900/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 37 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 82% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$90/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $900/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 34% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 57% below the QLD median ($39,260 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: $260/week (~$1,127/month) covered 125% of the $900/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $0/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 82% houses in a 3,193-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 $900/month median mortgage in Macleay Island means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $90/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Macleay Island are 57% below the Queensland median ($39,260 vs $90,298), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,193 residents, Macleay Island 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.
- Macleay Island is 37 km from the CBD — not close enough to benefit from the inner-ring pricing halo, so growth depends more heavily on local infrastructure decisions and the wider Queensland market cycle.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Macleay Island regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Macleay Island property
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Start your journey near Macleay Island →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Macleay Island are modest for 2026 — incomes 57% below the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 3,193 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~125% of the typical mortgage ($1,127/month rent vs $900/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Macleay Island 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 Macleay Island a good suburb for investment?
Whether Macleay Island suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,193, a median household income of $39,260/year and median weekly rent of $260. 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 Macleay Island?
The main demand drivers in Macleay Island are a median household income of $39,260/year, a dwelling mix that is 82% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Macleay Island?
Macleay Island has a usual resident population of approximately 3,193, 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 Macleay Island from the Brisbane CBD?
Macleay Island sits 37 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is an outer-metro location; local employment and infrastructure announcements tend to move prices more than CBD connectivity alone.
What is the median rent in Macleay Island?
The median weekly rent in Macleay Island is $490 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $25,480/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 Macleay Island?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Macleay Island is $900, or approximately $10,800/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 Macleay Island cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $260 works out to $1,127/month, covering 125% of the median mortgage repayment of $900/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $227/month, so on these numbers Macleay Island 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.
What are the main risks of investing in Macleay Island?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,193 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $900 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($39,260 vs $90,298 state median), 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 Macleay Island 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.