Suburb overview
Old Beach is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Hobart, Australia, with a population of approximately 4,394, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 14 km from the Hobart CBD, Old Beach is a middle ring area in Tasmania. The median household income is $96,980 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
7017
Postcode for Old Beach, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
4,394
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$615/wk
Median weekly rent — as at May 2025 – Apr 2026, Department of Justice (Tasmania) rental bonds (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
14 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,517/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
87% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Old Beach
- Well-connected to Hobart at ~14 km from the CBD.
- Predominantly separate houses (87%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Old Beach suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Established middle-ring position between the CBD and the urban fringe.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Median mortgage sits above the Tasmania state median — entry costs are stretched.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
4,394 residents places Old Beach squarely in the middle of the Tasmania suburb size distribution (state median 3,902), with market depth comparable to most TAS localities. Median household income of $96,980/year runs 31% above the Tasmania suburb median of $73,944, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Median rent of $615/week (as at May 2025 – Apr 2026, Department of Justice (Tasmania) rental bonds) equates to roughly $2,665/month — about 176% of the $1,517/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. 14 km from Hobart places Old Beach in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Investment tip
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 21% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Old Beach vs Tasmania median
How Old Beach stacks up against the median of all Tasmania suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Old Beach sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Old Beach | TAS median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 4,394 | 3,902 | +13% |
| Median household income | $96,980/yr | $73,944/yr | +31% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $400 | $320 | +25% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,517 | $1,378 | +10% |
| Distance to CBD | 14 km | 24 km | -42% |
| Separate houses | 87% | 80% | +7pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Old Beach — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 4,394 residents — 113% of the TAS suburb median (3,902).
- Purchasing power: median household income $96,980/year (+31% vs Tasmania suburb median of $73,944).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $400/week rent (≈ $1,733/month) covered ~114% of the $1,517/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 14 km straight-line from Hobart (state suburb median 24 km).
- Dwelling mix: 87% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 80% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$152/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,517/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 21% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 31% above the Tasmania suburb median ($96,980 vs $73,944), and the 14 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Tasmania, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $400/week (~$1,733/month) covered 114% of the $1,517/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 87% houses in a 4,394-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 $1,517/month median mortgage in Old Beach means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $152/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Premium-pricing risk: incomes 31% above the Tasmania median ($96,980 vs $73,944) correlate with elevated purchase prices and compressed gross yields — enter only with a clear capital-growth thesis and a comfortable deposit.
- Liquidity risk: with 4,394 residents, Old 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.
- House-dominant stock: 87% 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 Old Beach regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Old Beach property
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Start your journey near Old Beach →2026 outlook
Old Beach enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 31% above the Tasmania suburb median of $73,944 and a population of 4,394 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider TAS market over the next 12–18 months. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~114% of the typical mortgage ($1,733/month rent vs $1,517/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Old Beach is constructive heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Tasmania median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Old Beach a good suburb for investment?
Whether Old Beach suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 4,394, a median household income of $96,980/year and median weekly rent of $400. 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 Old Beach?
The main demand drivers in Old Beach are proximity to Hobart (14 km), an above-state-median household income of $96,980/year, a dwelling mix that is 87% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Old Beach?
Old Beach has a usual resident population of approximately 4,394, compared with a Tasmania suburb median of 3,902 — 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.
How far is Old Beach from the Hobart CBD?
Old Beach sits 14 km straight-line from the Hobart CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
What is the median rent in Old Beach?
The median weekly rent in Old Beach is $615 (as at May 2025 – Apr 2026, Department of Justice (Tasmania) rental bonds), equating to approximately $31,980/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 Old Beach?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Old Beach is $1,517, or approximately $18,204/year (vs $1,378/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 Old Beach cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $400 works out to $1,733/month, covering 114% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,517/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $216/month, so on these numbers Old 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 Old Beach?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (4,394 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,517 median mortgage, the broader Tasmania 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 Old 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 Department of Justice (Tasmania) rental bonds (May 2025 – Apr 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.