The south-east Queensland coastal hotspots having a sea-change boom

House rents have eclipsed $1000 per week in 20 coastal suburbs across south-east Queensland as the nation’s love affair with ‘surf ‘n’ turf’ shows no sign of slowing.

Fuelled by a wave of sea- and tree-changers charging out of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, median weekly house rents in a string of suburbs across the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast soared by up to 35 per cent in 12 months to reach the milestone, Domain figures show.

Mermaid Beach commands premium prices for prestige rentals.

Broadbeach Waters is now the state’s most expensive place to rent a house at a median asking rent of $1300 per week – up 8.3 per cent in a year.

Acreage hotspot Tallebudgera is the second-priciest place for rentals at $1250, with Bundall, Clear Island Waters, Currumbin, Paradise Point and Tallai tying for third at $1200. In Currumbin, house rents soared by 34.8 per cent – the second-biggest annual rent hike for a Queensland suburb.

Airlie Beach, perched off the Whitsundays, collected the highest weekly rent growth after unit rents climbed a colossal 41.3 per cent to a median asking rent of $650 per week.

Domain chief of research and economics, Dr Nicola Powell, said the insatiable appetite for lifestyle homes is turbocharging rent prices in coastal and acreage hotspots.

She added that while Brisbane tenants have maxed out their budgets in many of the capital’s suburbs, the lifestyle sector remains immune.

“When you look at areas that are seeing whoppers of a rent increase in Queensland it’s places like Airlie Beach and Minyama on the Sunshine Coast. There, the lifestyle is an undercurrent driving rental growth in prime locations and while some of these areas are coming off their peak rates of growth, I do think the overarching trend is still the same,” Powell said.

“The fact that there are now so many suburbs on the Gold Coast with a rental price tag of 1000 bucks a week or more shows it’s a magnet for that lifestyle location and at that price point I don’t think that’s ever going to change.

“That’s partly because they are so highly sought after and in places like Currumbin, there’s not much supply.”

Hayley Malone, of John Reid Real Estate, said interstate demand was driving the prestige rental sector, with high-end family homes in Broadbeach Waters fetching up to $3000 per week.

She said despite that demand for luxe lifestyle homes across the city had slightly waned over recent weeks, with premium listings now taking up to a month to lease out.

“That said, anything up to $1000 per week is incredibly popular and we’re seeing a lot of families and couples in that sector,” said Malone.

“So while our market isn’t as intense as it was during the height of the pandemic, anything under $1000 still gets snapped up right away.”

Head of property management at Kollosche Todd Madgwick said the luxury market had indeed slowed but said they were still clocking eye-watering transactions. In the past three months the prestige agency leased out a handful of homes for more than $4000 a week, including a home on the iconic Hedges Avenue or “millionaire’s row” to an unnamed celebrity for $10,000.

Other recent results include $6000 per week for a home in Mermaid Beach’s Albatross Avenue and $4,250 per week for a property in Burleigh Heads.

“Interstate vendors who are moving to the Gold Coast and want to research the market before they buy are driving that demand.

“But then there’s locals who are doing a large build locally and need somewhere to live. We’ve also had some overseas groups that are working in the movie industry locally.”

While the Gold Coast now boasts the lion’s share of top weekly rent prices, four Sunshine Coast suburbs reached the $1000 per week milestone, including Noosa Heads at $1100 per week. There, house rents rose 10 per cent in a year.

Asking house rents in Doonan added 5 per cent to reach a median $1050 per week while Minyama houses rose 27.4 per cent to reach $1000.

Harcourts Noosa property manager Kirsty Munro said mostly cashed up Melbourne tenants and some Brisbane sea-changers were driving demand.

“I find in that high-end rental market a lot of tenants are actually still living and working in Melbourne, but they’re renting a place up here and just going back and forth between the cities,” she said. “Some people from Brisbane are even doing the same.”

In the prestige sector she said rents typically cap out at $2000 per week, with a striking four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Noosaville recently rented for $2650 a week.

“That was a fully brand new home and the owners thought of everything. They wanted the new tenants to just be able to pick up a bag it and move in,” Munro said.