32 pages of suburb-level data, infrastructure analysis and price forecasts — co-published by COAST Buyer’s Agency and Hotspotting by Ryder. Built for serious buyers, investors and expats moving on the Gold Coast in 2026.
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What's actually inside
Most property reports recycle the same six headlines. This one comes from a buyer’s agency that uses it daily, paired with research from Hotspotting by Ryder, the team behind Australia’s most-cited suburb forecasts.
Here’s just some of what’s in the 32 pages:
01
Every Gold Coast suburb, ranked by the metrics that matter
54 house markets and 43 unit markets — every one with 30+ sales analysed for 12-month growth, 5-year average, rental yield and days on market.
02
The 9 suburbs about to cross $1M
Projected March 2027 medians for the suburbs on the cusp — including the one remaining sub-$1M house market on the Gold Coast.
03
$91 billion in infrastructure, mapped to suburb growth
The Coomera Connector, Light Rail Stage 3, the 2032 Olympic venues — and which suburbs are positioned to gain from each.
04
The unit-overtakes-house moment
For the first time on record, more units sold than houses on the Gold Coast in 2026. The data behind why — and the suburbs leading the shift.
05
The supply crisis nobody's pricing in yet
9,250 homes needed per year. Only 4,091 approved last year. What this actually means for prices and rents through 2027.
06
The 7 demand drivers powering Gold Coast growth
Infrastructure, migration, jobs, supply shortage, lifestyle exodus, unit demand, and the Olympic effect — explained with the data behind each.
If you’re casually curious about the Gold Coast and frequently reading headline stats on Domain or realestate.com.au, this report goes deeper. This is for you if:
- You’re planning to buy on the Gold Coast in the next 6–18 months
- You want suburb-level data, not just LGA averages
- You’re an expat or interstate buyer doing due diligence before a flight
- You’re an investor who wants yield + growth + supply data in one document
- You’re a downsizer thinking carefully about where the next 20 years happen
So, here’s what’s actually happening, where the growth is real, and what it means depending on why you’re buying.
Encore Broadbeach — The Drawing Mill
Gold Coast is Australia's fastest-growing economy
The headline most local buyers haven’t fully absorbed: the Gold Coast is currently the fastest-growing economy in Australia.
Gross Regional Product hit $49.4 billion in the year to June 2024, which is $775 million above forecast and represents 9.5% of Queensland’s entire economic output.
As of February 2026, the Council confirmed that construction and health care have overtaken tourism as the Gold Coast’s biggest economic drivers. Construction generates $5.04 billion annually, health care $4.5 billion, manufacturing $3.15 billion. Tourism is still significant, but it is no longer in the top five.
Why this matters for property: economies built on tourism alone are volatile. Economies built on construction, health, manufacturing and a maturing knowledge sector ($1.4 billion contribution and rising) attract long-term residents who need housing.
Why demand keeps outpacing supply
420 new residents move to the Gold Coast every week.
Against that demand, the supply side is failing to keep pace. The Gold Coast needs around 9,250 new homes per year to meet population growth through 2046. In FY2025, only 4,091 building approvals were granted. That’s a 55% shortfall, and it’s getting worse: the Property Council of Australia warns that 58% of approved Gold Coast projects are at risk of being scrapped or delayed.
The rental market reflects the squeeze. Vacancy plummeted from 5.5% in May 2020 to 1.3% in February 2026, well below the 3% considered balanced. There are roughly 900 rental properties available across the entire Gold Coast LGA.
When demand structurally outpaces supply, prices and rents rise. There is no scenario in the current data where this reverses in the next two to three years.
Benowa Waters 4217
Where the price growth is actually happening
More units sold than houses on the Gold Coast in the 12 months to March 2026 (8,265 units versus 8,153 houses).
Of the 43 unit markets analysed in the report, 23 saw higher unit growth than the equivalent house growth in the same suburb.
A few suburb-level standouts:
- Mermaid Beach houses up 32% to a $3.35 million median
- Coomera houses up 21% to $1.02 million
- Maudsland up 19%
- Carrara units up 16%
- Elanora units up 18%
The unit story has a yield component too. Twenty Gold Coast suburbs now offer rental yields above 4.5%, all of them units.
The shift toward units is a function of price, lifestyle, lock-and-leave appeal, and supply policy that increasingly favours vertical density. We expect this trend to continue through 2027.
Want the full picture? The 2026 Gold Coast Property Report breaks down every Gold Coast suburb with 30 or more sales in the past 12 months. 54 house markets and 43 unit markets, ranked on growth, yield and days-on-market.
The infrastructure boom nobody's talking about
There is currently $91 billion worth of projects either underway or proposed on the Gold Coast. About $54 billion of that is government or council spending; $37 billion is private sector.
The headline projects:
- Coomera Connector ($3.02 billion)
- Light Rail Stage 3 ($1.25 billion)
- Coomera Public Hospital ($2.25 billion)
- Foxwell Day Hospital ($700 million)
- Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct ($5 billion)
- 2032 Olympic Games infrastructure. Around $2 billion in direct economic injection
The reason this matters: infrastructure of this scale creates jobs, it raises desirability of specific corridors, and it locks in long-term capital growth in suburbs that benefit directly.
The northern corridor (Coomera, Pimpama, Upper Coomera) and the southern beach strip (Mermaid Beach through to Burleigh Heads) are the two clearest examples.
What it means for three different buyers
For investors
The yield-plus-growth case for Gold Coast units is the strongest it has been in a decade. Twenty suburbs offer yields above 4.5%, vacancy is at 1.3%, and rents are still climbing. The supply shortage is structural rather than the traditional cyclical.
For owner-occupiers and downsizers
Lifestyle suburbs like Hope Island, Paradise Point, Runaway Bay, Mermaid Beach and Palm Beach offer secure, walkable, low-maintenance options that have outperformed the broader market over five years. For downsizers selling a $2 million-plus family home, the play is often a beachside apartment plus an investment property, not a retirement village.
For expats and interstate buyers
Returning Australians and offshore buyers are concentrating in Surfers Paradise, Southport, Clear Island Waters and Arundel. The lifestyle premium remains, but the price gap with Sydney and Melbourne has narrowed sharply. Gold Coast unit medians ($978,718) are now higher than any Australian capital city.
Southport 4215
Get the full 2026 report
This post covers six of the ten key shifts shaping the Gold Coast in 2026. The full report covers all ten in depth, plus complete suburb-by-suburb data tables for every market with 30 or more sales in the past 12 months.
Don’t miss out—download your copy today and stay ahead of the market!
