Yield is the draw in Cairns. For our 2026 list of the best suburbs to invest in Cairns, we tested all 18 suburbs that sold 50 or more houses in the past year. Seven came through on price, yield and vacancy: Manoora, White Rock, Manunda, Mooroobool, Bentley Park, Edmonton and Mount Sheridan. Houses there cost $550,000 to $740,000 and yield 4.74% to 5.67% gross.
Manoora yields 5.67%. That clears the 5.04% where rent covers the interest on an 80% loan at 6.3%, as we worked out in what an investment property costs per week. On Manoora’s $550,000 median, that interest is about $533 a week. The $600 rent covers it with about $67 a week to spare. Insurance, rates and management come out of that, and cyclone cover here is dear. The other six yield 4.74% to 4.93%, all above the 4.1% Cotality average for regional Queensland houses.
Growth has come with the yield. Edmonton’s median has doubled since 2021, and house rents across the seven have risen 4.6% to 17.1% in a year. A new surgical centre, part of a Cairns Hospital expansion worth more than $1 billion, is due by 2031. The Navy will also base at least two new patrol vessels in Cairns from early 2027.
Cairns suburbs yielding up to 5.67%
Manoora, the most affordable, is at the top. The vacancy column shows each postcode’s August 2026 rate from SQM Research, with August 2025 in brackets. New houses per 100 counts the new houses approved over the five years to June 2026 for every 100 houses at the 2021 Census. It uses the ABS statistical area around each suburb, which often takes in the suburbs next door. The higher it is, the more new homes nearby are competing for tenants.
| Suburb | House median | Gross yield | Vacancy | House sales | 1-yr price change | 5-yr price change | New houses per 100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manoora | $550,000 | 5.67% | 0.64% (0.73%) | 55 | +14.5% | +69.2% | 1.5 |
| White Rock | $662,750 | 4.93% | 0.47% (0.38%) | 86 | +19.8% | +92.1% | 8.9 |
| Manunda | $696,000 | 4.86% | 0.64% (0.73%) | 50 | +27.0% | +98.9% | 5.1 |
| Mooroobool | $721,000 | 4.87% | 0.64% (0.73%) | 107 | +18.2% | +64.9% | 2.2 |
| Bentley Park | $728,470 | 4.85% | 0.55% (0.92%) | 158 | +15.0% | +94.3% | 12.2 |
| Edmonton | $734,400 | 4.74% | 0.55% (0.92%) | 177 | +21.5% | +101.2% | 8.4 |
| Mount Sheridan | $740,000 | 4.78% | 0.47% (0.38%) | 178 | +13.8% | +87.3% | 2.1 |
The three tests for Cairns suburbs
Our list began with 61 suburbs and localities across the Cairns region, from Ellis Beach down to Babinda. Eighteen had 50 or more house sales in the 12 months to 30 June 2026. The rest trade too rarely for a median to be reliable.
The house figures come from Cotality, formerly CoreLogic, through Your Investment Property, with rents at 31 August 2026. We worked out each yield from the rent and the median, then ran every suburb through three tests.
- Price. A median at or below $832,625, the median of the 18.
- Yield. At least 4.69%, which is also the median of the 18.
- Vacancy. Postcode vacancy no higher than 0.73%. It combines SQM’s August figures for the six main Cairns postcodes, 144 vacant rentals out of 19,696.
New building has its own column in the table but isn’t a test. In Cairns, suburbs with more new building nearby didn’t consistently grow more slowly, so nobody fails on it.
Cairns’ affordable half rose furthest
All 18 have gained at least 44% since 2021. Split at their June 2021 median of $470,000, the nine at or below it have gained a median 87.3%, against 65.9% for the nine above.
Edmonton and Cairns’ southern suburbs
Edmonton, Bentley Park, White Rock and Mount Sheridan are on the southern side of Cairns, near the Bruce Highway. Edmonton and Mount Sheridan are the two busiest house markets on the list, with 177 and 178 sales. Edmonton’s median went from $365,000 in 2021 to $734,400. It rose 21.5% in the past year alone.
Bentley Park yields 4.85% on a $728,470 median. White Rock is second-most affordable at $662,750 and second-highest on yield at 4.93%. Its houses sold in 8 days on average, the fastest of the seven.
The Mount Peter development area, declared in July 2025, runs from Edmonton towards Gordonvale. Economic Development Queensland’s plan allows for around 18,500 homes and more than 42,000 people. Its development scheme is out for public comment until 28 October 2026.
Rentals in these four suburbs are tight. In the Edmonton and Bentley Park postcode, vacancy dropped from 0.92% to 0.55% over the year. Mount Sheridan and White Rock share a postcode at 0.47%. At the southern end, vacancy in Gordonvale’s postcode rose from 0.18% to 1.33%.
With that many homes planned, we stick to established houses in the south (our post on growth corridors explains why).
Manoora, Manunda and Mooroobool
The other three are inner suburbs west and south-west of the CBD, all in postcode 4870. Little new building is going on around Manoora and Mooroobool. Manoora’s ABS area had 933 houses in 2021 and has approved 14 more since.
Manoora is the most affordable suburb on the list at $550,000, with the highest yield by a distance. With only 55 sales, a few either way can move the median. Check recent sales street by street before you offer. Rents there rose 12.1% in a year.
Manunda’s median rose 27.0% over the year, the most of the seven, on 50 sales. Its typical rent rose 17.1%, to $650 a week. Mooroobool is busier, with 107 sales. It yields 4.87% and its rents rose 12.5%.
Cairns suburbs that came close
Two suburbs failed only on vacancy. Gordonvale yields 5.05% on a $700,000 median, the second-highest yield of all 18. Its postcode, 4865, is where vacancy jumped. Trinity Park, at $825,250 and 4.79%, is in postcode 4879 on the northern beaches, where vacancy was 1.35%. If either postcode falls to 0.73% or below, the suburb passes.
Four more missed on two counts. Whitfield, Brinsmead, Edge Hill and Redlynch all cost around $900,000 or more, and their yields run from 4.00% to 4.56%.
What drives rental demand in Cairns
Cairns had 179,334 residents in June 2025, up 1.0% in a year, on ABS estimates. Health care is the biggest industry for jobs in Cairns, with 19,531 jobs in 2024-25, on the council’s economic profile from economy.id. On 15 September 2026 the Queensland Government appointed the builders for the Cairns Health Innovation and Surgical Centre, which is due by 2031.
The Navy is adding to its Cairns fleet. On 29 September 2026 the federal government announced that at least two of the Navy’s new Arafura-class patrol vessels will be based at HMAS Cairns. The first, HMAS Arafura, is due in early 2027, according to the Defence ministers’ release.
Before you buy in Cairns
Insurance comes first. Cairns is cyclone country, and premiums are high. In its final report in June 2026, the ACCC found the average home and contents premium in north Queensland was more than $3,100 in 2024-25. The same report, on the federal cyclone reinsurance pool, found Cairns home and contents premiums fell 12% per $100,000 insured. Price the insurance on the actual address before you offer.
When Cyclone Jasper’s rain hit in December 2023, Cairns Regional Council recorded 941 properties damaged by floodwater. Its clean-up centred on Holloways Beach, Yorkeys Knob, Machans Beach and Caravonica. None of the seven is among them, but check the address, since low-lying streets turn up across Cairns.
Cotality’s regional Queensland index is up 9.4% for the year but slipped 1.5% in the last three months. Listings are up too, with SQM counting 1,799 homes for sale across the six Cairns postcodes in August, 20.5% more than a year earlier. The one-year changes in our table end in June. Base your offer on the latest sales.
Most houses in Manoora and Mooroobool are older, so budget for a thorough building and pest inspection. Our inspection guide covers what to ask for.
Cairns in a growth and yield portfolio
Next to Ipswich and Ballarat, Cairns is the higher-yield option. A Cairns house yielding 4.74% to 5.67% costs less to hold each week than an Ipswich one at 3.69% to 4.08%, before insurance. It has grown strongly too. The more affordable half is up a median 87.3% since 2021, and Edmonton has doubled. Ballarat starts lower, at $513,500.
Our capital growth vs rental yield post works through how the two fit together. For how we source in Far North Queensland, see our Cairns buyers agent page.
Where to start in Cairns in 2026
Manoora has the highest yield, and Edmonton and Mount Sheridan have the most sales. Manunda’s rents are rising fastest. White Rock sells quickest, at 8 days on average. All seven yield above the 4.1% regional Queensland average.
Data sources. House medians, weekly rents, sales and days on market are Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) figures through Your Investment Property, with medians and sales to 30 June 2026 and rents to 31 August 2026. Yields are calculated by us as weekly rent times 52 divided by the median. Rent changes compare Cotality’s monthly median rent for August 2026 and August 2025. One-year and five-year changes compare the annual medians to June 2025, June 2021 and June 2026. New houses per 100 is ABS Building Approvals by SA2 for new houses from July 2021 to June 2026, divided by occupied separate houses at the 2021 Census. The supply comparison uses approvals from July 2016 to June 2021. Vacancy and listings are SQM Research by postcode, August 2026 against August 2025, and the Cairns rate is our sum of SQM’s figures for postcodes 4865, 4868, 4869, 4870, 4878 and 4879. Regional Queensland figures are the Cotality Home Value Index to 31 August 2026. Population is ABS estimated resident population for June 2024 and June 2025. All figures pulled 29 September 2026.
This is general information only and not financial advice. Speak to a qualified professional before making investment decisions.
If you want a Cairns house that pays more of its own way without giving up growth, book a free discovery call.
