Suburb overview
Goolwa Beach is a regional centre in South Australia, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,222, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 67 km from the Adelaide CBD, Goolwa Beach is a regional area in South Australia. The median household income is $47,632 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5214
Postcode for Goolwa Beach, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
2,222
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$520/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
67 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,083/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
56% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Goolwa Beach
- Regional location about 67 km from Adelaide.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who Goolwa Beach suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Mortgage costs are lower than the South Australia median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Lower purchase prices and more land for the money.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (67 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
Goolwa Beach is a smaller community of 2,222 — about 60% of the South Australia suburb median (3,699) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Goolwa Beach's median household income of $47,632/year is 41% below the South Australia suburb median ($80,964) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. Median rent of $520/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,253/month — about 208% of the $1,083/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. Goolwa Beach is 67 km from Adelaide, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 56% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 73% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
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 30% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Goolwa Beach vs South Australia median
How Goolwa Beach stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Goolwa Beach sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Goolwa Beach | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,222 | 3,699 | -40% |
| Median household income | $47,632/yr | $80,964/yr | -41% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $275 | $320 | -14% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,083 | $1,616 | -33% |
| Distance to CBD | 67 km | 13 km | +415% |
| Separate houses | 56% | 73% | -17pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Goolwa Beach — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 2,222 residents — 60% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $47,632/year (-41% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $275/week rent (≈ $1,192/month) covered ~110% of the $1,083/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 67 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 56% separate houses — mixed market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$108/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,083/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 30% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 2,222 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider South Australia market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $275/week (~$1,192/month) covered 110% of the $1,083/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.
Only 56% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 73% SA 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 $1,083/month median mortgage in Goolwa Beach means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $108/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Goolwa Beach are 41% below the South Australia median ($47,632 vs $80,964), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 2,222 residents, Goolwa Beach 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 67 km from the nearest CBD, Goolwa Beach 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 Goolwa Beach regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Goolwa Beach property
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Start your journey near Goolwa Beach →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Goolwa Beach are modest for 2026 — incomes 41% below the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 2,222 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~110% of the typical mortgage ($1,192/month rent vs $1,083/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Goolwa Beach is cautious heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the South Australia median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Goolwa Beach a good suburb for investment?
Whether Goolwa Beach suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 2,222, a median household income of $47,632/year and median weekly rent of $275. 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 Goolwa Beach?
The main demand drivers in Goolwa Beach are a median household income of $47,632/year, a dwelling mix that is 56% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Goolwa Beach?
Goolwa Beach has a usual resident population of approximately 2,222, compared with a South Australia suburb median of 3,699 — 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 Goolwa Beach from the Adelaide CBD?
Goolwa Beach sits 67 km straight-line from the Adelaide 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 Goolwa Beach?
The median weekly rent in Goolwa Beach is $520 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $27,040/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 Goolwa Beach?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Goolwa Beach is $1,083, or approximately $12,996/year (vs $1,616/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 Goolwa Beach cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $275 works out to $1,192/month, covering 110% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,083/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $109/month, so on these numbers Goolwa Beach 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 Goolwa Beach?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (2,222 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,083 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($47,632 vs $80,964 state median), the broader South Australia 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 Goolwa Beach 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 Consumer & Business Services (SA) (Jan–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.