Suburb overview
Mount Coolum is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 4,545, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 101 km from the Brisbane CBD, Mount Coolum is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $87,880 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4573
Postcode for Mount Coolum, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
4,545
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$790/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
101 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,863/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
57% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Mount Coolum
- Regional location about 101 km from Brisbane.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Mount Coolum suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Coastal lifestyle attracts renters and owner-occupiers alike.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (101 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
4,545 residents places Mount Coolum squarely in the middle of the Queensland suburb size distribution (state median 5,474), with market depth comparable to most QLD localities. At $87,880/year, household income in Mount Coolum is within 3% of the Queensland median ($90,298), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Median rent of $790/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $3,423/month — about 184% of the $1,863/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. Mount Coolum is 101 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 57% 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 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 27% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Mount Coolum vs Queensland median
How Mount Coolum stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Mount Coolum sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Mount Coolum | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 4,545 | 5,474 | -17% |
| Median household income | $87,880/yr | $90,298/yr | -3% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $450 | $385 | +17% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,863 | $1,733 | +8% |
| Distance to CBD | 101 km | 62 km | +63% |
| Separate houses | 57% | 77% | -20pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Mount Coolum — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 4,545 residents — 83% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $87,880/year (-3% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $450/week rent (≈ $1,950/month) covered ~105% of the $1,863/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 101 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 57% separate houses — mixed market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$186/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,863/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 27% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment strategy
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Mount Coolum's 4,545-person market and $87,880 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $450/week (~$1,950/month) covered 105% of the $1,863/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.
Only 57% 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 $1,863/month median mortgage in Mount Coolum means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $186/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 4,545 residents, Mount Coolum 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 101 km from the nearest CBD, Mount Coolum 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 Mount Coolum regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Mount Coolum 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 Mount Coolum property
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Start your journey near Mount Coolum →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Mount Coolum are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 4,545 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~105% of the typical mortgage ($1,950/month rent vs $1,863/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Mount Coolum is balanced heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Queensland median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mount Coolum a good suburb for investment?
Whether Mount Coolum suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 4,545, a median household income of $87,880/year and median weekly rent of $450. 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 Mount Coolum?
The main demand drivers in Mount Coolum are a median household income of $87,880/year, a dwelling mix that is 57% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Mount Coolum?
Mount Coolum has a usual resident population of approximately 4,545, 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 Mount Coolum from the Brisbane CBD?
Mount Coolum sits 101 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 Mount Coolum?
The median weekly rent in Mount Coolum is $790 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $41,080/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 Mount Coolum?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Mount Coolum is $1,863, or approximately $22,356/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 Mount Coolum cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $450 works out to $1,950/month, covering 105% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,863/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $87/month, so on these numbers Mount Coolum 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 Mount Coolum?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (4,545 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,863 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 Mount Coolum 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.