Suburb overview
Maleny is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,959, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 80 km from the Brisbane CBD, Maleny is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $59,488 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4552
Postcode for Maleny, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
3,959
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$620/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
80 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,625/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 Maleny
- Regional location about 80 km from Brisbane.
- Predominantly separate houses (82%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Maleny suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Mortgage costs are lower than the Queensland median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Coastal lifestyle attracts renters and owner-occupiers alike.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Rent-to-income ratio is above comfortable thresholds — watch tenant affordability.
- Long distance to the CBD (80 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
Investment insight
Maleny is a smaller community of 3,959 — about 72% of the Queensland suburb median (5,474) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Maleny's median household income of $59,488/year is 34% 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 $620/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,687/month — about 165% of the $1,625/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. Maleny is 80 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
Investment tip
This suburb can suit investors targeting renter demand driven by lifestyle. Insurance, climate risk, and seasonal rental patterns all warrant a close look. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 34% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Maleny vs Queensland median
How Maleny stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Maleny sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Maleny | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,959 | 5,474 | -28% |
| Median household income | $59,488/yr | $90,298/yr | -34% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $390 | $385 | +1% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,625 | $1,733 | -6% |
| Distance to CBD | 80 km | 62 km | +29% |
| Separate houses | 82% | 77% | +5pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Maleny — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,959 residents — 72% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $59,488/year (-34% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $390/week rent (≈ $1,690/month) covered ~104% of the $1,625/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 80 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 ~$163/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,625/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 34% below the QLD median ($59,488 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: $390/week (~$1,690/month) covered 104% of the $1,625/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 3,959-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 $1,625/month median mortgage in Maleny means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $163/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Maleny are 34% below the Queensland median ($59,488 vs $90,298), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,959 residents, Maleny 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.
- Commute distance: at 80 km from the nearest CBD, Maleny depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Maleny regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Maleny property
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Start your journey near Maleny →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Maleny are modest for 2026 — incomes 34% below the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 3,959 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~104% of the typical mortgage ($1,690/month rent vs $1,625/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Maleny 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 Maleny a good suburb for investment?
Whether Maleny suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,959, a median household income of $59,488/year and median weekly rent of $390. 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 Maleny?
The main demand drivers in Maleny are a median household income of $59,488/year, a dwelling mix that is 82% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Maleny?
Maleny has a usual resident population of approximately 3,959, 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 Maleny from the Brisbane CBD?
Maleny sits 80 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 Maleny?
The median weekly rent in Maleny is $620 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $32,240/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 Maleny?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Maleny is $1,625, or approximately $19,500/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 Maleny cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $390 works out to $1,690/month, covering 104% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,625/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $65/month, so on these numbers Maleny 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 Maleny?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,959 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,625 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($59,488 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 Maleny 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.