Suburb overview
South Maclean is a regional centre in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,232, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 36 km from the Brisbane CBD, South Maclean is a regional area in Queensland. The median household income is $107,172 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4280
Postcode for South Maclean, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
2,232
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$630/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
36 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
95% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in South Maclean
- Outer-metro setting about 36 km from Brisbane — more space, quieter streets.
- Predominantly separate houses (95%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who South Maclean 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.
- Long distance to the CBD (36 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
Investment insight
South Maclean is a smaller community of 2,232 — about 41% 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 $107,172/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 $630/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,730/month — about 140% 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 36 km from Brisbane, South Maclean is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price. Separate houses make up 95% of dwellings — 18 percentage points above the Queensland median of 77% — pointing to a family-oriented, land-rich market where value is concentrated in the underlying block.
Investment tip
This suburb suits yield-focused investors who are comfortable with lower liquidity. Employment concentration and local population trends matter more here than in metro markets. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 23% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
South Maclean vs Queensland median
How South Maclean stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean South Maclean sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | South Maclean | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,232 | 5,474 | -59% |
| Median household income | $107,172/yr | $90,298/yr | +19% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $470 | $385 | +22% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,950 | $1,733 | +13% |
| Distance to CBD | 36 km | 62 km | -42% |
| Separate houses | 95% | 77% | +18pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for South Maclean — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 2,232 residents — 41% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $107,172/year (+19% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $470/week rent (≈ $2,037/month) covered ~104% of the $1,950/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 36 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 95% 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: 23% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 2,232 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $470/week (~$2,037/month) covered 104% of the $1,950/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 95% houses in a 2,232-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 South Maclean means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $195/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 2,232 residents, South Maclean 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.
- South Maclean is 36 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.
- House-dominant stock: 95% 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.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in South Maclean regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a South Maclean property
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Start your journey near South Maclean →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for South Maclean are modest for 2026 — incomes 19% above the QLD median of $90,298 and a population of 2,232 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~104% of the typical mortgage ($2,037/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 South Maclean 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 South Maclean a good suburb for investment?
Whether South Maclean suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 2,232, a median household income of $107,172/year and median weekly rent of $470. 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 South Maclean?
The main demand drivers in South Maclean are an above-state-median household income of $107,172/year, a dwelling mix that is 95% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of South Maclean?
South Maclean has a usual resident population of approximately 2,232, 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 South Maclean from the Brisbane CBD?
South Maclean sits 36 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 South Maclean?
The median weekly rent in South Maclean is $630 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $32,760/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 South Maclean?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in South Maclean 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 South Maclean cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $470 works out to $2,037/month, covering 104% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,950/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $87/month, so on these numbers South Maclean 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 South Maclean?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (2,232 residents), 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 South Maclean 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.