Do Big Things boost property values? New data reveals surprising truth
From the iconic Big Banana in Coffs Harbour to the towering Big Lobster in Kingston, Australia’s landscape is dotted with more than 150 oversized attractions that have captured the nation’s imagination for over six decades.
These whimsical roadside giants, born from grassroots community initiatives in the 1960s, have evolved from simple tourist magnets into significant economic drivers for regional Australia.
But beyond their obvious role as Instagram-worthy pit stops and tourism drawcards, could Australia’s Big Things be influencing something far more substantial, the property markets of the towns they call home?
The phenomenon began in 1964 with Coffs Harbour’s Big Banana, erected to celebrate the region’s banana-growing industry.
What started as a clever marketing ploy quickly sparked a national trend, with communities across the country erecting their own oversized tributes to local industries, produce, and wildlife.
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West Papuan singer-songwriter, activist, and refugee Lea Firth – known as Voice of Lele – in front of the infamous Big Banana.
Today, these structures serve multiple economic functions that extend far beyond their initial tourism appeal, acting as powerful branding tools that help regional towns establish distinct identities in an increasingly competitive landscape.
However, new analysis of property performance in Big Thing towns reveals a more complex relationship between quirky attractions and real estate values than their tourism success might suggest.
Coastal clusters: The advantage of location
The data shows a clear coastal advantage among Big Thing locations.
Woombye, home to the Big Pineapple on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, commands a median house price of $988,500, a remarkable 31.5 per cent above the broader regional Queensland market.
The Big Pineapple was officially relaunched in early 2024 after undergoing a major renovation project by owner Peter Kendall and his company CMC Property, who bought the icon in 2011 for $5.8 million. It had previously been owned by the same family for three decades.
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The Big Pineapple at Woombye on the Sunshine Coast has had a spruce-up.
Aussies love their big fruits, including The Big Mango in Bowen.
Standing 16m high, the tourism landmark first opened in 1971 in Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, and included a tourist train, a zoo and a souvenir shop.
In 1983, it made international headlines when the late Diana, Princess of Wales and then Prince Charles took a ride on the train during their visit to Australia.
Similarly, West Ballina’s Big Prawn sits in a market valued at $882,500, nearly 10 per cent above regional New South Wales averages.
Even the established Big Banana market in Coffs Harbour holds steady at regional parity with an $800,000 median.
This coastal clustering reveals a fundamental truth: natural amenities and accessibility appear to matter more than novelty attractions when it comes to sustained property value growth. These seaside Big Thing towns benefit from lifestyle appeal, proximity to growth centres, and established tourism infrastructure that extends far beyond their oversized monuments.
The contrast with inland locations is stark.
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Mary Fowler and Nathan Cleary at the Big Mango in Bowen.
Bowen’s Big Mango, despite the town’s status as a significant agricultural centre, sits in a property market valued at just $480,000, 36 per cent below the regional Queensland average.
The iconic 10m-high sculpture was erected in 2002 as part of a community campaign.
It made headlines in 2014 when it mysteriously disappeared overnight.
It was later revealed that restaurant chain Nando’s was responsible for the heist as part of a stunt to promote a new mango and lime-flavoured sauce.
As a sign of appreciation to community support, Nando’s later donated the Big Mango’s doppelganger, the Mini Mango to Bowen.
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The Big Cassowary in Mission Beach, Queensland, taken from the book Big Aussie Icons.
Sitting on the edge of the road at Kapunda, Map the Miner pays tribute to the Cornish mining history of the town, and the big fella is also known as Map Kernow or the Son of Cornwall.
The Mini Mango is a 6m-high mango that was constructed to appear as the Big Mango in Melbourne as the actual $90,000 Big Mango was too big to make the trip.
The Mini Mango is located on Bowen’s foreshore.
Meanwhile, Mission Beach’s Big Cassowary is equally doing little to drive property prices.
Its property market is valued at $550,000, despite its coastal location, trailing regional markets by 27 per cent.
These gaps suggest that geographic isolation and limited economic diversity can’t be overcome by tourism attractions alone.
Wine and heritage: Exceptions to the rule
Intriguingly, some heritage-focused Big Things in wine and tourism regions buck the trend. Rutherglen’s Big Wine Bottle shows exceptional 15.7 per cent annual growth and 166 per cent growth over the decade, likely driven by the Murray Valley’s evolution into a premium wine tourism destination.
This success illustrates how Big Things can amplify existing economic strengths rather than create them from scratch.
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Larger-than-life penguin in the seaside town of Penguin, Tasmania.
One of the Adelaide Hills, SA, best loved attractions is the world’s largest rocking horse in Gumeracha. Designed by David McIntosh and opened in 1981 after an eight-month construction, the structure, which cost $100,000 to build stands 18.3m tall.
Tasmania presents an interesting case study where both Big Thing locations, Penguin and Latrobe, outperform their regional market.
The Big Penguin town commands $615,000 (12 per cent above regional Tasmania), while Latrobe’s Big Platypus sits marginally above regional averages.
This suggests the island state’s broader property performance has lifted all markets, regardless of roadside attractions.
The limits of novelty: Big things in stagnant economies
The data also highlights the limitations of Big Things in economically stagnant areas. Goulburn’s Big Merino, celebrating the traditional wool industry, sits 21.8 per cent below regional NSW averages at $629,000.
Similarly, Humpty Doo’s Big Boxing Crocodile, despite proximity to Darwin, shows minimal 10-year growth of just 8.3 per cent, well below the territory’s broader performance.
Western Australia’s Big Apple in Donnybrook provides another cautionary tale, sitting 13.7 per cent below regional WA averages despite the state’s resource-driven property boom.
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The Big Lobster, affectionately known as ‘Larry’, was born in 1979 after being designed and built by the creator of The Paul Kelly. The 17m tall statue was originally conceived by Ian Backler, a local lobster fisherman, who formulated a plan to build a visitor centre in Kingston while travelling in the United States
Langwarrin’s McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery is home to more than 100 sculptural works, some of them quite large. A famous inhabitant is a 10m-high stainless steel gnome by sculptor Gregor Kregar officially named Reflective Lullaby and dubbed Frankie by locals.
This underperformance suggests that even in strong regional markets, isolated locations struggle to capitalise on broader economic momentum.
The evidence suggests Big Things work best as tourism amplifiers in areas with strong fundamental advantages, coastal lifestyle appeal, wine tourism potential, or proximity to growth corridors.
They appear incapable of single-handedly transforming property markets in isolated or economically declining areas.
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A famous historic figure immortalised in mega-size is bushranger Ned Kelly with statues in Maryborough, Queensland, and at a mini golf course near Ballarat. But arguably the most famous incarnation is a 1.5 tonne, 6m-tall statue in the Victorian town of Glenrowan, where Kelly lived as a youngster before his infamous last siege took place at a local inn in 1880.
Located in the Hunter Region is the home of the Mortels Sheepskin factory and along with it, The Big UGG Boots which are 13 times the size of a women’s size 8 UGG boot.Erected in April 2015, the boots have been known to withstand some of the Hunter Regions most catastrophic weather events, including a storm that was the equivalent of a category 2 Cyclone the day after it was erected.
As Australia’s regional property markets continue their current growth trajectory, these findings indicate that while Big Things remain important cultural icons and tourism drivers, their influence on real estate values depends heavily on location, accessibility, and broader economic fundamentals.
In the complex world of property markets, it seems that substance ultimately trumps size, even when that size reaches truly monumental proportions.
You can read more about Australia’s Big Things here.
– By Vanessa Rader, Ray White Head of Research and Lydia Kellner, News Corp
The post Do Big Things boost property values? New data reveals surprising truth appeared first on realestate.com.au.
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