See inside the hidden suburbs where Queensland investors really live

The average Queensland property investor doesn’t live in an inner-city hotspot, but deep in the state’s outer suburbs.

New data from the Australian Taxation Office revealed Chandler, in Brisbane’s east is home to the highest density of investors in the state, with neighbouring Burbank and MacKenzie taking the next spot.

Calculating what percentage of locals in each postcode make money through investment properties, the three suburbs were found to make up around 24 per cent of investors — just shy of a quarter of that area’s population.

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Brisbane’s outer suburbs are home to the largest density of investors across Queensland, according to Australian Taxation Office data. Picture: Chris Higgins

6 Drysdale Close, for sale in MacKenzie. The Chandler, Mackenzie and Burbank suburbs feature investor densities between 19.6 and 24.2 per cent.

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Leanne Pilkington said what stood out the most about the biggest postcodes for property investor numbers was that few of them would be considered overly affluent.

“I’m surprised by the areas, they are just not high-net worth areas,” Ms Pilkington said.

“The conversation is always around rich landlords and this data is demonstrating that the landlords really are just mum and dads.”

CEO of research firm InvestorKit, Arjun Paliwal, said buyers looking to invest in 2025 were still coming from a wide variety of classes, despite the surging cost of living making it harder to buy a home.

“The majority of property investors we see are your everyday mums and dads in suburban capital city environments,” he said.

“They’re looking to build wealth, protect financial interests, and they see property wealth as a good market to do so.”

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Real Estate Institute of Australia president Leanne Pilkington said the national data she saw showed many of Australia’s investors came from regular families.

Mr Paliwal said while property markets were growing tighter, buyers looking to invest were still able to get ahead by buying in outer areas.

“A big mistake is that people [only] go in their backyard, or they end up buying units,” he said.

“Being borderless is one of the biggest reasons most investors are able to have success, because they’re able to understand what’s happening around Australia; able to make sense of what’s happening in different locations at different times.”

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129 Charleton Street, a home for sale in Chandler. While some investor suburbs like Chandler have a huge median house price, a similar investor density can be found in areas like Kenmore and Bardon, where the median is close to Brisbane’s overall median price.

InvestorKit CEO Arjun Paliwal said those looking to invest in 2025 should be encouraged by the opportunities to buy property in areas outside of your city. Picture: John Gass

The two postcodes for Queensland’s top three suburbs record a combined $2.8m in net annual rent, with the 4155 postcode of Chandler at $1.3m and Mackenzie-Burbank’s postcode of 4156 at $1.5m.

Suburbs in the 4069 postcode took the next spot, making up hotspots in western suburbs such as Brookfield, Chapel Hill and Kenmore.

Overall, 12 suburbs make up the top three postcodes with the highest percentage of investors, ranging from 19.64 per cent to 24.2 per cent.

Prpty360 property coach Julian Fadini said to get into the market, many younger buyers he met would lean on new ways to finance their investment homes.

“They’re focusing on generating or building their wealth – meaning they’re building their base, when they don’t necessarily have an elaborate base to build off of,” he said.

“They’ve either saved their deposit as rentvestors, or bought a property in the owner-occupier market to leverage the equity off of that … [others] are often turning to their superannuation and making a combined fund to get into property.”

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Prpty360 CEO Julian Fadini said he was seeing more buyers get into rentvesting: living in outer suburbs to save money while investing and accruing wealth through the homes they would rent out.

Mr Fadini said these risky plays were often a means of providing financial insurance for the future.

“They’re aware of the challenges that they face, and there’s pressure on household budgets – it’s very difficult to save to wealth,” he said.

“The idea of putting money into a bank account doesn’t hold any weight, they’re looking to put that money into assets that grow.”

The Sunshine Coast postcode 4572, making up Alexandra Headland, came in fourth place on the list.

Greater Brisbane postcodes took fifth, sixth and ninth place, with the Moreton Bay postcode of Bardon (4065) and the Central Queensland postcode of Duaringa (4712) in eighth and tenth place.

8 Hannay Street, Moranbah – located in the regional 4520 suburb, where investors are reporting more negative gearing than positive gearing.

Each of the postcodes on the list saw a positive net rent income, except for number 7 — 4520, in the Mackay – Isaac – Whitsunday region.

Associated with the suburb Moranbah, the area was reported to receive a net rent income of negative $2.5m that year.

Mr Paliwal said a reason behind this might be that when specialised workers fly out, they often decide to rent out their properties in their home towns.

“Mining towns [often] have a newer tenure of investors,” he said.

“They may not live in this area for long; the population might be transient, the locals might be in and out … and as we know, the start of your investment journey is highly negatively geared.”

Mining towns such as Moranbah often have a transient population, where workers will often rent out the homes they own back in the cities.

While several postcodes across regional Queensland had a population of investors below 5 per cent, the lowest investor percentage in Greater Brisbane came from the 4008 postcode.

This postcode is used for Pinkenba and the Brisbane Airport, with its investor population at 6.6 per cent and a net rent of -$6,996.

The data was discovered by analysing records from the 2023 financial year.

During that year, the 4217 postcode – home to Gold Coast suburbs such as Surfers Paradise – reported the most net income in rent, coming in at $30.6m.

Of the area’s 32,000 residents, nearly 13 per cent of them are investors, with 66 per cent of this rent reported to be positively geared.

Meanwhile, the most negative net income was the 4300 postcode, home to suburbs such as Brookwater and Springfield.

Net rent was reported to be around -$8 million, with a population of 44,500 and 9.3 per cent reporting rental income. Of these investors, a total of 62.8 per cent reported their property was negatively geared.

With both sides of net income are accounted for, the state median income for rent totals at $293,820, with an average of $1.4 million.

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