Beach house bargains: 107 booming coastal ‘burbs under $1m

Houses in more than 100 booming beach towns across the country can be bought for less than $1 million, new data analysis has revealed.

The median house price was less than $1 million in 107 regional coastal suburbs where prices had recorded annual growth of 5% or more, the analysis of PropTrack data from October 2024 showed.

About a third of those suburbs had median house prices of $500,000 or less – and some even recorded prices below $300,000.

Most of the suburbs were in Queensland and Western Australia – with both states racking up 38 suburbs each.

This could have been in part because they are the states with the largest coastlines, but REA Group economist Eleanor Creagh said geography was not the only reason.

“Markets in regional Queensland and regional Western Australia as a whole continue to record very strong growth,” Ms Creagh said.

Townsville has seen a flurry of development in recent years. Picture: Getty

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She said lower-priced areas tended to record stronger growth, as demand for affordable homes buoyed prices.

“Buyers have been pushed down the value chain with substantial interest rate rises, mortgage costs having surged, borrowing capacities having reduced and home prices having risen also substantially in recent years. So more affordable regions are generally seeing stronger price increases.”

Queensland’s 10 cheapest regional beach ‘burbs

Townsville, which saw five of its suburbs make the list, was the strongest performing region in the country in the past year, Ms Creagh said.

“I would say that’s largely due to that relative affordability advantage, but also population growth, jobs growth and the like.”

It’s something Belle Property agent Josie Howard has seen first hand.

“The initial boom started with investors,” Ms Howard said. “Now we have a mix of locals wanting to upgrade and we even get people who work in Sydney and Melbourne who live here and only go down a week or so a month.”

She said though it had seen extensive development in recent years, it was still not as built-up as other Queensland towns such as Cairns.

“Nothing is more than 20 minutes away, and we have swimmable beaches and no high-rises – it’s not too crowded.”

Geraldton in WA had eight suburbs on the list. Picture: Getty

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The strongest price-growth in the country at a suburb level was in Tarcoola Beach, a suburb of Geraldton in WA, which saw house prices increase by a whopping 50% in the 12 months to October. Still, the median there was only $645,000.

Seven other suburbs in greater Geraldton also made the list, and local agent Joel Winkly from The Agency said the area gave buyers bang for their buck.

“Geraldton as a whole has probably proven to have the best value for money for ocean-view property,” Mr Winkly said. “You can still buy a brilliant beach-front home for just over – or even just under – $1 million.”

Top 10 WA regional beach ‘burbs for price growth

Despite having some of the highest median house prices in the country, NSW still saw eight suburbs make the list of affordable coastal suburbs with strong growth.

What’s more, two of those – Yamba and Iluka – were about an hour down the coast from Byron Bay, and some have touted the area as ‘the next Byron’.

“The only reason Byron isn’t in there is because the median is above a million,” Ms Creagh said.

In fact, the median unit price in Byron Bay was $1.18 million in October 2024, and the median house price was nearly triple that – $3.4 million.

NSW regional beach suburbs under $1 million

Yamba and Illuka’s house medians increased by 16.5% and 7.9% to $990,000 and $820,000 respectively in the past year, thanks in part to some new development.

“Some different types of stock and new builds have pushed the median up,” First National Real Estate Yamba principal Richard Hunt said.

The town of Yamba on the NSW north coast has seen new homes built in the past year. Picture: Getty

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South Australia recorded some of the cheapest coastal suburbs to buy a house – Port Augusta, Ceduna and Port Augusta West were the three least expensive on the list, with medians of $225,000, $272,500 and $280,500, respectively.

“Regional South Australia, outside of reginal Northern Territory, is actually the cheapest market in the country to buy a home,” Ms Creagh said.  

SA regional beach suburbs under $1 million

At a suburb level, the one NT hamlet which made the list – Dundee Beach – was actually more expensive than the three SA bargain ’burbs, recording a median house price of $290,000.

Ms Creagh said though strong annual growth was one measure of a good suburb for investors, it needed to be considered with other factors and individual circumstances.

“There are plenty of different factors and metrics that people should consider when they’re looking for an investment that’s right for them,” she said.  

“Some people will look at rental yields, but others will also look at vacancy rates – how long it could take to find tenants if they were thinking of renting it out, other expenses that might be incurred in maintaining the property – taxes, financing costs. All of those things will also all influence investment decisions.”

Just three suburbs made the list in Victoria, while Tasmania saw four suburbs make the grade.

Full list of regional beach ‘burbs under $1 million