Suburb overview
Sandy Bay is an inner-city suburb of Hobart, Australia, with a population of approximately 12,315, making it a smaller community. Located 4 km from the Hobart CBD, Sandy Bay is a inner city area in Tasmania. The median household income is $99,580 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
7005
Postcode for Sandy Bay, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
12,315
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$520/wk
Median weekly rent — as at May 2025 – Apr 2026, Department of Justice (Tasmania) rental bonds (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
4 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,167/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
61% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Sandy Bay
- Close to Hobart — roughly 4 km from the CBD, ideal for city workers.
- Cafes, restaurants and nightlife are part of the local fabric.
Who Sandy Bay suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Short distance to the CBD makes commuting straightforward.
- Lifestyle access to shops, cafes and amenities.
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
With 12,315 residents, Sandy Bay is one of Tasmania's more populous suburbs — roughly 3.2× the state median of 3,902 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Median household income of $99,580/year runs 35% 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 $520/week (as at May 2025 – Apr 2026, Department of Justice (Tasmania) rental bonds) equates to roughly $2,253/month — about 104% of the $2,167/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 4 km from the Hobart CBD, Sandy Bay sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 61% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 80% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
Investment tip
This suburb suits investors prioritising tenant demand over capital-cost efficiency. Rents are supported by proximity to amenities, but strata fees and entry prices can eat into yield. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 22% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Sandy Bay vs Tasmania median
How Sandy Bay stacks up against the median of all Tasmania suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Sandy Bay sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Sandy Bay | TAS median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 12,315 | 3,902 | +216% |
| Median household income | $99,580/yr | $73,944/yr | +35% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $418 | $320 | +31% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,167 | $1,378 | +57% |
| Distance to CBD | 4 km | 24 km | -83% |
| Separate houses | 61% | 80% | -19pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Sandy Bay — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 12,315 residents — 316% of the TAS suburb median (3,902).
- Purchasing power: median household income $99,580/year (+35% vs Tasmania suburb median of $73,944).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $418/week rent (≈ $1,811/month) covered ~84% of the $2,167/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 4 km straight-line from Hobart (state suburb median 24 km).
- Dwelling mix: 61% separate houses — mixed market (vs 80% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$217/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,167/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 22% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 35% above the Tasmania suburb median ($99,580 vs $73,944), and the 4 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.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $418/week covered 84% of a $2,167/month mortgage, a $356/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
Only 61% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 80% TAS 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 $2,167/month median mortgage in Sandy Bay means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $217/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Premium-pricing risk: incomes 35% above the Tasmania median ($99,580 vs $73,944) correlate with elevated purchase prices and compressed gross yields — enter only with a clear capital-growth thesis and a comfortable deposit.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Sandy Bay regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Sandy Bay 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 Sandy Bay property
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Start your journey near Sandy Bay →2026 outlook
Sandy Bay enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 35% above the Tasmania suburb median of $73,944 and a population of 12,315 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 ~84% of the typical mortgage ($1,811/month rent vs $2,167/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Sandy Bay 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 Sandy Bay a good suburb for investment?
Whether Sandy Bay suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 12,315, a median household income of $99,580/year and median weekly rent of $418. 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 Sandy Bay?
The main demand drivers in Sandy Bay are proximity to Hobart (4 km), an above-state-median household income of $99,580/year, a dwelling mix that is 61% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Sandy Bay?
Sandy Bay has a usual resident population of approximately 12,315, 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 Sandy Bay from the Hobart CBD?
Sandy Bay sits 4 km straight-line from the Hobart CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Hobart employment nodes.
What is the median rent in Sandy Bay?
The median weekly rent in Sandy Bay is $520 (as at May 2025 – Apr 2026, Department of Justice (Tasmania) rental bonds), 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 Sandy Bay?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Sandy Bay is $2,167, or approximately $26,004/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 Sandy Bay cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $418 works out to $1,811/month, covering 84% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,167/month. That leaves a $356/month shortfall (around $4,272/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 Sandy Bay?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,167 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 Sandy Bay 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.