Suburb overview
Mount Low is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 5,488, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 1123 km from the Brisbane CBD, Mount Low is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $117,468 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4818
Postcode for Mount Low, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
5,488
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$590/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
1123 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,733/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
94% 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 Low
- Regional location about 1123 km from Brisbane.
- Predominantly separate houses (94%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Mount Low suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Mortgage costs are lower than the Queensland median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Coastal lifestyle attracts renters and owner-occupiers alike.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (1123 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
5,488 residents places Mount Low squarely in the middle of the Queensland suburb size distribution (state median 5,474), with market depth comparable to most QLD localities. Median household income of $117,468/year runs 30% 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 $590/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,557/month — about 148% of the $1,733/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 Low is 1123 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Separate houses make up 94% of dwellings — 17 percentage points above the Queensland median of 77% — pointing to a family-oriented, land-rich market where value is concentrated in the underlying block.
Investment tip
Coastal markets benefit from lifestyle appeal but require a buffer for higher insurance and occasional weather-driven vacancies. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 16% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Mount Low vs Queensland median
How Mount Low stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Mount Low sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Mount Low | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 5,488 | 5,474 | 0% |
| Median household income | $117,468/yr | $90,298/yr | +30% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $370 | $385 | -4% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,733 | $1,733 | 0% |
| Distance to CBD | 1123 km | 62 km | +1711% |
| Separate houses | 94% | 77% | +17pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Mount Low — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 5,488 residents — 100% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $117,468/year (+30% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $370/week rent (≈ $1,603/month) covered ~92% of the $1,733/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 1123 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 94% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$173/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,733/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 16% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 5,488 and household income close to the QLD median ($117,468 vs $90,298) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $370/week (~$1,603/month) covered 92% of the $1,733/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $130/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
A dwelling mix skewed to houses (94% vs 77% QLD median) combined with a population of 5,488 creates a deeper market for value-add renovations — older stock, separate titles and stronger buyer competition are the usual pattern here.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,733/month median mortgage in Mount Low means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $173/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Premium-pricing risk: incomes 30% above the Queensland median ($117,468 vs $90,298) correlate with elevated purchase prices and compressed gross yields — enter only with a clear capital-growth thesis and a comfortable deposit.
- Commute distance: at 1123 km from the nearest CBD, Mount Low depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- House-dominant stock: 94% 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 Mount Low regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Mount Low property
Walk the journey to a place like Mount Low
Seven guided stops — government schemes compared for your exact numbers, a real budget, suburb shortlisting and every contract deadline tracked. Free, no signup to start.
Start your journey near Mount Low →2026 outlook
Property values in Mount Low should track the wider Queensland market through 2026, with the $117,468/year median household income (30% above the $90,298 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~92% of the typical mortgage ($1,603/month rent vs $1,733/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Mount Low 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 Low a good suburb for investment?
Whether Mount Low suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 5,488, a median household income of $117,468/year and median weekly rent of $370. 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 Low?
The main demand drivers in Mount Low are an above-state-median household income of $117,468/year, a dwelling mix that is 94% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Mount Low?
Mount Low has a usual resident population of approximately 5,488, compared with a Queensland suburb median of 5,474 — placing it in the upper 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 Low from the Brisbane CBD?
Mount Low sits 1123 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 Low?
The median weekly rent in Mount Low is $590 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $30,680/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 Low?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Mount Low is $1,733, or approximately $20,796/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 Low cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $370 works out to $1,603/month, covering 92% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,733/month. That leaves a $130/month shortfall (around $1,560/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 Mount Low?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,733 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 Low 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.