EquitySight.app
Free full calculator →
EquitySight.app
Free full calculator →
ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Runaway Bay is a coastal suburb in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 9,308, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 62 km from the Brisbane CBD, Runaway Bay is a coastal area in Queensland. The median household income is $71,864 per year.
Lower income levels in Runaway Bay typically translate to more affordable entry points for investors. Seaside positioning attracts both owner-occupiers and holiday rental demand.
Official Australia Post postcode for Runaway Bay. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 2 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Runaway Bay on My School →Estimated 4 parks and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Runaway Bay's population of 9,308 sits 70% above the Queensland suburb median of 5,474, giving it a wider tenant and buyer catchment than the average QLD locality. Household income of $71,864/year is 20% below the Queensland median of $90,298, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Median weekly rent of $435 equates to $1,885/month — about 94% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,000/month — meaning rental income covers most of a typical owner's repayment and this is a genuine cash-flow suburb before tax benefits. Runaway Bay is 62 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 40% 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.
Coastal markets benefit from lifestyle appeal but require a buffer for higher insurance and occasional weather-driven vacancies. Local rents consume roughly 31% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Runaway Bay stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Runaway Bay sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Runaway Bay | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 9,308 | 5,474 | +70% |
| Median household income | $71,864/yr | $90,298/yr | -20% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $435 | $385 | +13% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,000 | $1,733 | +15% |
| Distance to CBD | 62 km | 62 km | 0% |
| Separate houses | 40% | 77% | -37pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Runaway Bay — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 20% below the QLD median ($71,864 vs $90,298) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage: $435/week (~$1,885/month) covers 94% of the $2,000/month median mortgage repayment, so the shortfall sits at just $115/month. Investors targeting positive cash flow should shortlist this suburb.
Only 40% 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.
Run the numbers on a Runaway Bay property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Runaway Bay are modest for 2026 — incomes 20% below the QLD median of $90,298 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~94% of the typical mortgage ($1,885/month rent vs $2,000/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 51/100 places Runaway Bay in the mid tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
Lived in Runaway Bay? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.
Runaway Bay scores 51/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 9,308, median household income of $71,864/year and median weekly rent of $435. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Runaway Bay are a median household income of $71,864/year, a dwelling mix that is 40% separate houses, roughly 2 schools and 4 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Runaway Bay has a usual resident population of approximately 9,308, 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.
Runaway Bay sits 62 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.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $435 in Runaway Bay, equating to approximately $22,620/year in gross rental income (state median $385/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Runaway Bay is $2,000, or approximately $24,000/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.
A median weekly rent of $435 works out to $1,885/month, covering 94% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,000/month. That leaves a $115/month shortfall (around $1,380/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.
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,000 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($71,864 vs $90,298 state median), the broader Queensland market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.