Young buyers drive 58% surge in Gold Coast apartments amid jobs boom

Apartment purchases outpace houses

A strong labour market and attractive lifestyle are attracting new home buyers to the Gold Coast, along with a development pipeline which envisages tens of thousands of new apartments being built over the next 20 years.

This trend towards apartment living is borne out in an analysis of new Commonwealth Bank lending data, which indicates that young buyers are increasingly selecting apartments over houses in the area.

The data shows that owner-occupier apartment purchases increased 58% between FY21 and FY26, compared to an 11% increase in owner-occupier house purchases.

The divergence has continued more recently. From FY25 to FY26, owner-occupier apartment unit purchases on the Gold Coast increased 11%, while owner-occupier house purchases declined 5%, showing that the longer-term growth in apartment buying remains evident in recent activity, the bank data showed.

Rebecca Markwell, General Manager Home Buying at Commonwealth Bank, said apartment living was part of the fabric of the Gold Coast, “and we’re seeing that reflected in owner-occupier purchases, with units recording much stronger growth than houses over the past five years.”

“What makes that particularly interesting is that the rest of Queensland remains strongly oriented towards houses, highlighting how different the housing mix can be at a local level,” she said.

“The growth in apartment purchasing on the Gold Coast highlights why housing supply can’t be thought about in the same way in every market. Different communities can have very different patterns of purchasing across property types, making the local housing mix an important consideration as new supply is planned.” 

Young Queensland buyers look further afield

Broadly across Queensland, young buyers have been increasingly active in recent years, with owner-occupier purchases by 20–29-year-olds up 67% between FY21 and FY26 compared to a 46% increase nationally.

Markwell said one of the most interesting shifts in Queensland was the growing role of buyers purchasing properties in outer-metro and regional areas beyond the state’s traditional population centres.

“This points to a home buying market that is opening to a broader mix of buyers across more parts of the state,” she said.

“Houses also account for a larger share of owner-occupier purchases in Queensland than they do nationally. Together, these trends suggest many buyers are looking further afield in search of affordable detached housing, which highlights the importance of delivering the right housing in the right locations to meet growing demand.”

Thousands of new apartments planned

Meanwhile, back on the Gold Coast, a recent Property Council of Australia report says that under the South East Queensland Regional Plan, the Gold Coast is expected to deliver 5,643 apartments each year to 2031, increasing to 5,924 annually to 2046.

Queensland’s strong population growth has supported housing demand, with the state adding 582,000 people between the December quarter of 2019 and the December quarter of 2025. While population growth is moderating, housing construction remains comparatively strong. 

Queensland dwelling investment rose 16.8% over the year to the June quarter, while trend dwelling approvals increased 18.2% over the year to August.

Belinda Allen, Head of Australian Economics at Commonwealth Bank, said: “Queensland’s strong population growth has been an important driver of housing demand since the pandemic.

“Housing construction is responding, with the state leading the country for dwelling investment and recording strong growth in building approvals.

“However, the sharp rise in prices has reduced affordability and the housing market is now easing.”

Gold Coast apartment market running at two speeds

Gold Coast independent buyer’s agent Trent Muffett said he believed the Gold Coast apartment market was running at two speeds currently.

“Anything a million dollars or under, it’s still holding up pretty well. There’s a few discounts, but not too much. So that’s firmly in the first home buyer category,” he said.

“And then, at a million dollars or over, that market has kind of flattened out a little bit, and that’s where some of the bigger discounts are.” 

Muffett said people continued to flock to the Gold Coast for lifestyle reasons, and the economy was also booming.

“There’s jobs galore, so people aren’t just moving for the lifestyle anymore,” he said.

This article is part of The Home Front series supported by Commonwealth Bank and was first published by The Courier Mail.