The Gold Coast rental market has pulled apart. In June 2026 Surfers Paradise recorded 4.0% vacancy while Beenleigh and Eagleby, up the northern corridor, sat at 0.7%.
That is not one market having a moment. It is two markets going in opposite directions, and it decides where a Gold Coast purchase makes sense right now.
Gold Coast vacancy rates by postcode
Vacancy is the number that has moved most, and it has moved unevenly. These are SQM Research figures for June 2026, with March 2026 for comparison.
| Postcode | Area | Jun 2026 | Mar 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4217 | Surfers Paradise | 4.0% | 2.7% |
| 4220 | Burleigh Heads | 2.5% | 1.9% |
| 4226 | Robina | 1.3% | 0.6% |
| 4214 | Ashmore | 1.0% | 0.7% |
| 4227 | Varsity Lakes | 0.7% | 0.7% |
| 4207 | Beenleigh, Eagleby | 0.7% | 0.5% |
Surfers Paradise has gone from 2.7% to 4.0% in three months, and it is above where it sat a year ago. Robina has doubled off a low base. The northern end has barely moved.
A landlord at 4% vacancy is competing for tenants. A landlord at 0.7% is not. On a Surfers Paradise house renting at $1,350 a week, a few extra weeks empty each year is real money.
What the Gold Coast is worth
There is a data limitation worth stating plainly. Cotality does not publish a separate Gold Coast index, because the city sits inside its Regional Queensland series. Anyone quoting you a single Gold Coast median is inferring it.
Regional Queensland as a whole had a median of $852,037 at 31 July 2026, up 11.7% over the year but down 0.3% in July, having peaked in June 2026. Gross yield across the region is 4.2%.
The national picture behind it: values peaked in March 2026 and have fallen four consecutive months, sitting 2.0% below that peak. The RBA raised rates three times in 2026 and holds at 4.35%.
Gold Coast house prices by suburb
Suburb figures are published, and they show the same split as the vacancy table. Growth below covers the twelve months to May 2026, so it captures the boom and ends before the turn.
| Suburb | Median | 12m growth | Rent | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagleby | $800,000 | +18.52% | $580 | 3.77% |
| Beenleigh | $830,000 | +19.00% | $600 | 3.76% |
| Pimpama | $992,500 | +17.46% | $760 | 3.98% |
| Coomera | $1,050,000 | +20.00% | $800 | 3.96% |
| Robina | $1,425,000 | +9.62% | $1,050 | 3.83% |
| Burleigh Heads | $1,804,000 | +28.86% | $1,300 | 3.75% |
| Surfers Paradise | $1,777,500 | +25.81% | $1,350 | 3.95% |
Yields above are calculated from the median and the median rent in the same row, so they reconcile. Published yield figures for these suburbs are drawn to a later date than the medians and do not.
Look at the yield column, because it is the opposite of what most people expect. It barely moves. Every suburb here returns between 3.75% and 3.98%, a spread of less than a quarter of a percentage point. That holds from an $800,000 house in Eagleby to an $1.8 million one in Burleigh Heads.
On the Gold Coast, paying more does not buy you a better yield, and paying less does not cost you one. Eagleby at $800,000 and Burleigh Heads at $1,804,000 return within two basis points of each other.
So yield does not decide this purchase. What differs is the vacancy behind that yield, and how much capital you have to put at risk to collect it. Burleigh and Surfers also posted the biggest growth over the year to May, which is what a late-cycle market looks like. The premium end runs last, and it is the end now showing 2.5% and 4.0% vacancy.
Where the units sit
Units are the Gold Coast’s defining stock and they do clear the yield bar the houses do not. Surfers Paradise units run a $810,000 median at $770 a week, a 4.94% gross yield, a full percentage point above the houses around them.
Those yields look attractive next to the houses, and on a beachfront apartment they should. You are being paid for holiday-let exposure, body corporate costs, and a vacancy rate that just hit 4.0%. Our note on houses versus units covers where that trade makes sense.
What to weigh up before buying
The rental split is the whole decision. Surfers Paradise at 4.0% and Beenleigh at 0.7% are not the same investment, whatever the postcode prefix suggests.
The growth figures are history. They run to May 2026. Regional Queensland peaked the following month and is now falling, so treat those numbers as where demand was.
Yields do not clear the hurdle at 4.35%. House yields of 3.75% to 3.98% mean a Gold Coast purchase leans on growth, in a market that has just turned. Growth and yield both have to work.
Tourism exposure cuts both ways. The beachfront end is the most exposed to short-stay competition and to discretionary spending, which is the first thing to go when rates stay high.
Where this leaves a Gold Coast brief
The Gold Coast still has a case, and it is at the northern end rather than the beach. Coomera, Pimpama, Beenleigh and Eagleby offer entry between $800,000 and $1.05 million on the same yield the beachfront pays, with Beenleigh and Eagleby renting at 0.7% vacancy in June.
The beachfront is the opposite trade: double the price, lower yield, and a rental market loosening quickly. Our Gold Coast buyers agent page sets out the suburbs we buy in and why.
This is general information only and not financial advice. Speak to a qualified professional before making investment decisions.
If you want a Gold Coast brief built on current vacancy rather than last year’s growth, book a free discovery call.
Sources
- Postcode vacancy rates: SQM Research, June 2026 with March 2026 comparison
- Suburb medians, growth, yields and rents: Your Investment Property, CoreLogic data for the twelve months to May 2026
- Regional Queensland median, growth and yield, plus national values and peak dates: Cotality Home Value Index, August 2026 release, index results as at 31 July 2026
- Cash rate: RBA monetary policy decision, 16 June 2026
- Note: Cotality does not publish a standalone Gold Coast index. The city is reported within Regional Queensland
