Suburb overview
Ooralea is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,691, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 802 km from the Brisbane CBD, Ooralea is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $116,896 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4740
Postcode for Ooralea, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
3,691
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
802 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,820/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
85% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Ooralea
- Regional location about 802 km from Brisbane.
- Predominantly separate houses (85%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Ooralea 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 (802 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
Ooralea is a smaller community of 3,691 — about 67% of the Queensland suburb median (5,474) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $116,896/year runs 29% 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 167% of the $1,820/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. Ooralea is 802 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
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 20% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Ooralea vs Queensland median
How Ooralea stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Ooralea sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Ooralea | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,691 | 5,474 | -33% |
| Median household income | $116,896/yr | $90,298/yr | +29% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $440 | $385 | +14% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,820 | $1,733 | +5% |
| Distance to CBD | 802 km | 62 km | +1194% |
| Separate houses | 85% | 77% | +8pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Ooralea — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,691 residents — 67% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $116,896/year (+29% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $440/week rent (≈ $1,907/month) covered ~105% of the $1,820/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 802 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 85% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$182/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,820/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 20% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Ooralea's 3,691-person market and $116,896 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: $440/week (~$1,907/month) covered 105% of the $1,820/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 85% houses in a 3,691-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 $1,820/month median mortgage in Ooralea means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $182/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Premium-pricing risk: incomes 29% above the Queensland median ($116,896 vs $90,298) correlate with elevated purchase prices and compressed gross yields — enter only with a clear capital-growth thesis and a comfortable deposit.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,691 residents, Ooralea 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 802 km from the nearest CBD, Ooralea depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- House-dominant stock: 85% 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.
Run the numbers on a Ooralea property
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Start your journey near Ooralea →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Ooralea are modest for 2026 — incomes 29% above the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 3,691 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~105% of the typical mortgage ($1,907/month rent vs $1,820/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Ooralea 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 Ooralea a good suburb for investment?
Whether Ooralea suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,691, a median household income of $116,896/year and median weekly rent of $440. 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 Ooralea?
The main demand drivers in Ooralea are an above-state-median household income of $116,896/year, a dwelling mix that is 85% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Ooralea?
Ooralea has a usual resident population of approximately 3,691, 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 Ooralea from the Brisbane CBD?
Ooralea sits 802 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 Ooralea?
The median weekly rent in Ooralea 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 Ooralea?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Ooralea is $1,820, or approximately $21,840/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 Ooralea cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $440 works out to $1,907/month, covering 105% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,820/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $87/month, so on these numbers Ooralea 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 Ooralea?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,691 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,820 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 Ooralea 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.