Suburb overview
North Lakes is a regional centre in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 23,030, making it a sizeable community. Located approximately 28 km from the Brisbane CBD, North Lakes is a regional area in Queensland. The median household income is $108,784 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4509
Postcode for North Lakes, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
23,030
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$680/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
28 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,950/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 North Lakes
- Family-friendly fringe location — around 28 km from Brisbane.
- Predominantly separate houses (82%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who North Lakes suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Lower purchase prices and more land for the money.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
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 23,030 residents, North Lakes is one of Queensland's more populous suburbs — roughly 4.2× 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 $108,784/year runs 20% 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 $680/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,947/month — about 151% of the $1,950/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 28 km from Brisbane, North Lakes 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 20% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
North Lakes vs Queensland median
How North Lakes stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean North Lakes sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | North Lakes | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 23,030 | 5,474 | +321% |
| Median household income | $108,784/yr | $90,298/yr | +20% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $420 | $385 | +9% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,950 | $1,733 | +13% |
| Distance to CBD | 28 km | 62 km | -55% |
| Separate houses | 82% | 77% | +5pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for North Lakes — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 23,030 residents — 421% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $108,784/year (+20% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $420/week rent (≈ $1,820/month) covered ~93% of the $1,950/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 28 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 ~$195/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,950/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 20% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 23,030 and household income close to the QLD median ($108,784 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: $420/week (~$1,820/month) covered 93% of the $1,950/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.
With 82% houses in a 23,030-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 $1,950/month median mortgage in North Lakes means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $195/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- North Lakes is 28 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 North Lakes regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in North Lakes 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 North Lakes property
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Start your journey near North Lakes →2026 outlook
Property values in North Lakes should track the wider Queensland market through 2026, with the $108,784/year median household income (20% above the $90,298 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~93% of the typical mortgage ($1,820/month rent vs $1,950/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for North Lakes 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 North Lakes a good suburb for investment?
Whether North Lakes suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 23,030, a median household income of $108,784/year and median weekly rent of $420. 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 North Lakes?
The main demand drivers in North Lakes are an above-state-median household income of $108,784/year, a dwelling mix that is 82% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of North Lakes?
North Lakes has a usual resident population of approximately 23,030, 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 North Lakes from the Brisbane CBD?
North Lakes sits 28 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 North Lakes?
The median weekly rent in North Lakes is $680 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $35,360/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 North Lakes?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in North Lakes is $1,950, or approximately $23,400/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 North Lakes cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $420 works out to $1,820/month, covering 93% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,950/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 North Lakes?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,950 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 North Lakes 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.