10 best suburbs in Regional Queensland to invest in 2025

Regional Queensland has seen consistently strong growth in the property market in recent times—especially when compared to other regional Australian markets. In 2025, however, Regional Queensland is tipped to have some of the strongest growth prospects in the nation, second only to its capital city, Brisbane.

Regional Queensland is currently the best performing of the regional markets; based on an array of metrics including vacancy rates and infrastructure spending. PropTrack and CoreLogic data also shows that last year the Regional Queensland median house price rose 11% and the median unit price 10%—roughly double national averages—while some notable markets within the state did better, including the Gold Coast, Rockhampton and Townsville.

The region’s stellar results across other key factors suggest another year of above-average price growth. The year starts with considerable impetus driving markets in the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Gladstone, Mackay, Bundaberg, Townsville, Cairns, Rockhampton and Toowoomba, among others.

Interstate migration continues to drive new residents to Queensland, with many investors favouring the state for its affordability, strong rental returns and prospects for capital growth. A Property Sentiment Report published by API Magazine for the first quarter of 2025 found that Queensland is the number one choice for investors in 2025, by a wide margin.

Infrastructure spending, including major investments in the Bruce Highway, add to the existing momentum, with the regional areas of Queensland outpointing the state’s capital city in this regard.

The data below was prepared in February 2025 with suburb median prices, growth rates, vacancy rates and median rental yields provided by Hotspotting by Ryder and initial outlay and monthly repayments calculated by Canstar Research.

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Top 10 best suburbs in Regional Queensland to invest in 2025

• Birtinya
  

• Blacks Beach
  

• Gympie
  

• Kingaroy
  

• Maroochydore (Unit)
  

• Newtown
  

• Pimpama
  

• Southport (Unit)
  

• Tannum Sands
  

• Thabeban
  

Birtinya

The Sunshine Coast is a classic ‘second-wind’ market: it saw a nation-leading spurt of price growth between 2020 and 2022 and, after a pause, is ready to surge again. Birtinya homes are nestled around the waterways of Lake Kawana in a suburb that includes the $5 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital medical precinct and a major precinct of bulky goods retail. Birtinya is poised to improve on its 10-year growth average of 10% per year.

Blacks Beach

Central Queensland cities like Mackay are being impacted by two key trends: internal migration, and the switch of investor focus from Western Australia to Queensland. Buyer demand is rising in Mackay, with affordable beach suburbs targeted. The median house price for Blacks Beach rose 18% in the past year but remains below $500,000. With vacancies under 1%, house rents rose 14% in 2024.

Gympie

Another notable ‘second-wind’ market, Gympie had a previous growth spurt (the 10-year growth average is 15% a year) due to being an affordable alternative to the Sunshine Coast and is starting to rise again. This regional city of 55,000 residents is benefiting from billions being spent on improving Bruce Highway links both south and north. Its median house price of $540,000 compares to $760,000 for the Sunshine Coast’s cheapest suburb.

Kingaroy

This regional centre has growing importance as the HQ of the South Burnett region, a key agricultural region with a growing tourism industry. There is significant investment being directed to this region, including large-scale energy projects and a major new hospital. Rents and prices both rose 10% in 2024, and, with houses typically in the $400,000s and yields above 6%, the town is poised to attract both home buyers and investors.

Maroochydore (U)

The 2020-2022 boom has made the Sunshine Coast an expensive regional city, with house medians above $1 million in many suburbs. Attention is switching to units—notably in centrally-placed Maroochydore where there were almost 500 unit sales in 2024 at a median price of $750,000. Vacancies are well below 1% and rental demand is set to grow as the multi-billion-dollar SunCentral CBD development continues to evolve.

Newtown

Toowoomba, Australia’s largest inland city after Canberra, is an example of how major new infrastructure can turbocharge a market. The impact of Wellcamp Airport and the Second Range Crossing will be boosted by the Inland Rail Link (Toowoomba is the hub for Queensland) and a $1 billion hospital under construction. Inner-city Newtown is one of the oldest and cheapest suburbs and is poised to add to its 10-year growth average (13% a year).

Pimpama

The Gold Coast was one of the strongest cities for price growth in 2024 and now abounds with million-dollar suburbs, but Pimpama in the northern growth corridor remains relatively affordable. This precinct has had past oversupply but now has a shortage of new dwellings and vacancies are well below 1%. This precinct is the focus of big transport infrastructure developments, including multi-billion-dollar upgrades to rail and motorway links.

Southport (U)

Southport has become one of the busiest Gold Coast apartment markets, underpinned by health and education campuses, plus good transport links. Units are cheaper here than Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Broadbeach, despite a strong growth record (13% a year over 10 years) and a 17% rise in 2024, with over 700 unit sales in 12 months. The Southport unit market is helped by low vacancies and yields in the 5-6% range.

Tannum Sands

The important industrial city of Gladstone has shrugged off its boom-bust image from the past and now presents as a safer investment option, offering affordability, low vacancies and high rental yields (rents rose 19% in 2024). Seaside Tannum Sands is the most expensive suburb but its median house price of $555,000 remains affordable for many buyers and there is potential for more growth in 2025, underpinned by the busy Gladstone economy.

Thabeban

The importance of Bundaberg as a regional city and property market is boosted by construction starting on a $1 billion hospital. The prosperous Central Queensland city (10-year capital growth average of 17% a year) will be boosted by thousands of jobs in construction and more in operations. Thabeban, the location for the big medical facility, has a major shopping centre and is close to the city’s airport.

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Best Regional Queensland suburbs and towns to invest in 2025

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Source: www.canstar.com.au. Prepared in February 2025. Based on a selection of suburbs’ median prices, growth and rent figures provided by Hotspotting by Ryder. Initial outlay figures include the deposit, stamp duty, mortgage registration and transfer fees; and lenders’ mortgage insurance (LMI) premium for the 10% deposit scenarios. Stamp duty calculated based on an owner occupier purchase of an established dwelling where applicable. FHB concessions include stamp duty only. LMI premium based on Helia LMI Premium Calculator for an owner occupier borrower and a loan term of 30 years. Monthly repayments calculated based on the interest rates of 6.20% (20% deposit) and 6.34% (10% deposit) and a loan term of 30 years. Interest rates based on the RBA Lenders’ Interest Rates (November 2024). Percentage of income based on the average total income by Greater Capital City Statistical Area (ABS Personal Income, 2021-22), adjusted by the ABS Wage Price Index (Sep-2024) for each state.

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What are some of the factors that are impacting the Regional Queensland market?

Sales volumes

Buyer activity is highly consistent across Regional Queensland, which ranks only behind Regional New South Wales on this parameter. Momentum in key locations suggests prices will keep on rising in many of the state’s key markets.

Quarterly price growth

Over 60% of Regional Queensland locations have recorded quarterly price uplift above the threshold, which mirrors the steady performance with sales activity also recorded recently.

Vacancy rates

This is the metric with the most improvement for Regional Queensland, with around two-thirds of its suburbs and towns having vacancies below 1%, making it the strongest out of all Australian regional markets.

Rental growth

Regional Queensland has improved its position against this metric, with over three-quarters of its locations having annual rental increases above 5%.

Infrastructure spending

The uptick in infrastructure investment felt throughout Regional Queensland over the last few years continues, with dozens of major rail, road, hospital and energy projects in development. Projects under way or completed in 2024 totalled well over $100 billion, with another $85 billion in planning. Regional Queensland’s role in the 2032 Olympics and big spending on the Bruce Highway should maintain momentum.

Cover image source: Alex Cimbal/Shutterstock.com