Suburb overview
Palm Cove is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,450, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 1412 km from the Brisbane CBD, Palm Cove is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $79,404 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4879
Postcode for Palm Cove, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
2,450
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$600/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
1412 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
49% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Palm Cove
- Regional location about 1412 km from Brisbane.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Palm Cove 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 (1412 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
Palm Cove is a smaller community of 2,450 — about 45% of the Queensland suburb median (5,474) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Household income of $79,404/year is 12% below the Queensland median of $90,298, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Median rent of $600/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,600/month — about 150% 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. Palm Cove is 1412 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 49% 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
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 24% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Palm Cove vs Queensland median
How Palm Cove stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Palm Cove sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Palm Cove | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,450 | 5,474 | -55% |
| Median household income | $79,404/yr | $90,298/yr | -12% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $365 | $385 | -5% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,733 | $1,733 | 0% |
| Distance to CBD | 1412 km | 62 km | +2177% |
| Separate houses | 49% | 77% | -28pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Palm Cove — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 2,450 residents — 45% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $79,404/year (-12% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $365/week rent (≈ $1,582/month) covered ~91% of the $1,733/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 1412 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 49% separate houses — mixed 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: 24% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 2,450 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $365/week (~$1,582/month) covered 91% of the $1,733/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $151/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
Only 49% 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 $1,733/month median mortgage in Palm Cove means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $173/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 2,450 residents, Palm Cove 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 1412 km from the nearest CBD, Palm Cove 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 Palm Cove regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Palm Cove 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 Palm Cove property
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Start your journey near Palm Cove →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Palm Cove are modest for 2026 — incomes 12% below the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 2,450 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~91% of the typical mortgage ($1,582/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 Palm Cove is cautious heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Queensland median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Palm Cove a good suburb for investment?
Whether Palm Cove suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 2,450, a median household income of $79,404/year and median weekly rent of $365. 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 Palm Cove?
The main demand drivers in Palm Cove are a median household income of $79,404/year, a dwelling mix that is 49% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Palm Cove?
Palm Cove has a usual resident population of approximately 2,450, 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 Palm Cove from the Brisbane CBD?
Palm Cove sits 1412 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 Palm Cove?
The median weekly rent in Palm Cove is $600 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $31,200/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 Palm Cove?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Palm Cove 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 Palm Cove cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $365 works out to $1,582/month, covering 91% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,733/month. That leaves a $151/month shortfall (around $1,812/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 Palm Cove?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (2,450 residents), 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 Palm Cove 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.