Suburb overview
New Farm is an inner-city suburb of Brisbane, Australia, with a population of approximately 12,197, making it a smaller community. Located 2 km from the Brisbane CBD, New Farm is a inner city area in Queensland. The median household income is $107,588 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4005
Postcode for New Farm, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
12,197
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$700/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
2 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,264/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
18% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in New Farm
- Close to Brisbane — roughly 2 km from the CBD, ideal for city workers.
- High-density unit mix (82% non-house dwellings) — urban, low-maintenance living.
- Cafes, restaurants and nightlife are part of the local fabric.
Who New Farm suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Short distance to the CBD makes commuting straightforward.
- Lifestyle access to shops, cafes and amenities.
Cons
- Median mortgage sits above the Queensland state median — entry costs are stretched.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
With 12,197 residents, New Farm is one of Queensland's more populous suburbs — roughly 2.2× the state median of 5,474 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Median household income of $107,588/year runs 19% 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 $700/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $3,033/month — about 134% of the $2,264/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 2 km from the Brisbane CBD, New Farm sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 18% 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 suits investors prioritising tenant demand over capital-cost efficiency. Rents are supported by proximity to amenities, but strata fees and entry prices can eat into yield. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 20% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
New Farm vs Queensland median
How New Farm stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean New Farm sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | New Farm | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 12,197 | 5,474 | +123% |
| Median household income | $107,588/yr | $90,298/yr | +19% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $405 | $385 | +5% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,264 | $1,733 | +31% |
| Distance to CBD | 2 km | 62 km | -97% |
| Separate houses | 18% | 77% | -59pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for New Farm — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 12,197 residents — 223% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $107,588/year (+19% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $405/week rent (≈ $1,755/month) covered ~78% of the $2,264/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 2 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 18% separate houses — unit-heavy market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$226/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,264/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 20% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 19% above the Queensland suburb median ($107,588 vs $90,298), and the 2 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Queensland, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $405/week covered 78% of a $2,264/month mortgage, a $509/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
Only 18% 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 $2,264/month median mortgage in New Farm means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $226/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Strata exposure: only 18% of dwellings in New Farm are separate houses, so most investment stock is apartments or townhouses subject to body-corporate fees, sinking-fund levies and competing supply from new developments.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in New Farm regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in New Farm 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 New Farm property
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Start your journey near New Farm →2026 outlook
New Farm enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 19% above the Queensland suburb median of $90,298 and a population of 12,197 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider QLD market over the next 12–18 months. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~78% of the typical mortgage ($1,755/month rent vs $2,264/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for New Farm is constructive heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Queensland median.
Frequently asked questions
Is New Farm a good suburb for investment?
Whether New Farm suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 12,197, a median household income of $107,588/year and median weekly rent of $405. 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 New Farm?
The main demand drivers in New Farm are proximity to Brisbane (2 km), an above-state-median household income of $107,588/year, a dwelling mix that is 18% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of New Farm?
New Farm has a usual resident population of approximately 12,197, 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 New Farm from the Brisbane CBD?
New Farm sits 2 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Brisbane employment nodes.
What is the median rent in New Farm?
The median weekly rent in New Farm is $700 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $36,400/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 New Farm?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in New Farm is $2,264, or approximately $27,168/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 New Farm cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $405 works out to $1,755/month, covering 78% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,264/month. That leaves a $509/month shortfall (around $6,108/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 New Farm?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,264 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (18% 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.
How we built this New Farm 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.