Revealed: The Gold Coast suburbs outperforming the capitals

The Gold Coast property market has outperformed much of Australia with home prices increasing up to 15-fold in the past 30 years.

Exclusive PropTrack analysis revealed most of the Gold Coast’s top performing areas were outer suburbs considered budget friendly in 1995.

The analysis calculated the price growth factor (PGF) – how much higher prices are now compared to 1995 – of suburbs across Australia’s major cities.

Coming in number one on the Gold Coast, Pacific Pines has seen property prices 15.6 times higher in the past 30 years to sit at a median of $1.139m.

Next was Reedy Creek, which, recorded a PGF of 15, pushing the average cost of a home in 2025 up to $1,613m.

This was a higher price growth factor than found in most capital cities.

Third was Ormeau Hills where buyers are paying 14.1 times more today that they did in 1995, with the median home price at $1.019m.

Rounding out the top five were Burleigh Heads, with a PGF of 13.2 and a current median home price of $1.851m, and Bonogin, with a PGF of 13.1 and a current median home price of $1.647m.

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REA Group economist Angus Moore said the forces driving price rises over the past 30 years were complex, but could be broadly categorised by changes in supply and demand.

He said interstate migration was one of the main reason the Gold Coast had recorded tremendous growth, but it was unlikely that growth would be matched in the next 30 years.

“The Gold Coast is a lot more urbanised now,” he said.

“You can only do that change once.

“There are still plenty of people wanting to move there and it will still be a strong growth area.

“But the biggest change for the Gold Coast has already passed.”

In Brisbane, New Beith had the highest PGF with the median home price of $1.268m 18.1 times higher than 30 years ago.

This was also the highest PGF in any of the cities analysed.

Number two in Brisbane was Flagstone, where property was 17.2 times higher than in 1995, pushing the median home price up to $880,000.

On Russell Island and in Regency Downs buyers could expected to pay 17.1 times more than they did 30 years ago, with median home prices now sitting at $436,000 and $802,000 respectively.

Mr Moore said interstate migration was one of the main reasons Brisbane had seen strong price rises.

“There was a previous boost from the mining boom and a lot has happened in the past 30 years, but the common thread of outperformance in Brisbane comes back to the fundamentals: people want to live in Queensland,” he said.

Mr Moore said the affordability of the SEQ markets was also a factor in the region recording high PGFs, with growth especially strong in the last five years.

“Ipswich and Logan were higher performers in recent years because they were more affordable,” he said.

In Sydney, Glenwood was the best performing suburb of the past 30 years with a PGF of 15 and a median home price of $1.694m.

In Melbourne, Blairgowrie topped the list with a PGF of 13.2 pushing the average cost of a house to $1.279.

In Adelaide, Elizabeth South was number one with a current median dwelling price of $583,000 off the back of an 11.7 PGF.

While in Perth Leda was in the lead with buyers paying $690,000 on average for a home, up 12 times higher than in 1995.

Mr Moore said nationally there far fewer homes being built today relative to population growth, and this was creating supply shortages across major city markets.

“Price rises, to some extent, are in our control if we build more housing in places where people want to live,” he said.

Mr Moore said this change coincided with a “structural” downward shift in interest rates over the period, which meant buyers had access to more debt and could spend more on housing, he said.

He pointed to the RBA’s cash rate, which peaked at 17.5 per cent in early 1990 and steadily dropped over the decades until reaching a record low of 0.1 per cent in 2021 and 3.6 per cent today.

“Over the last 30 years, the structural decline in interest rates has been part of the reason prices have grown,” he said.

“That structural decline has already happened and can’t happen again.”

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