Cairns City is in Cairns LGA, QLD, postcode 4870, with population 3,616.
The page has enough signal to be useful, but the story is mixed rather than decisive. Use compare mode to pressure-test it against stronger nearby options, then use the calculator if it still makes the shortlist.
Recent price movement shows visible market momentum.
Indicative cashflow is interest-only and excludes tax — use the calculator for a full projection.
Owners with a mortgage repay a median of $1,733/mo, while renters pay about $2,102/mo — renting runs $369/mo higher on these medians.
Cairns City (postcode 4870) is a smaller residential area in Queensland within the Cairns local government area. With a population of 3,616, the suburb has a settled mid-life population with a median age of 44. Households earn a median income of $85K per year, with an average household size of 1.9 people. Recent annual estimates show population movement staying broadly stable across the broader catchment, with population growth running at +1.0% year-on-year at the LGA level. QLD employment has moved +0.9% year-on-year in the official Jobs and Skills Australia NERO series, which provides the broader jobs backdrop for this suburb. QLD also had 32 Commonwealth-backed major projects under construction, 12 underway, and 50 in planning as at 2 October 2024, which is useful as a broader delivery backdrop rather than a suburb-specific project count. The most common occupations are professionals, managers, community & personal service. Employment in the area leans toward accommodation & food and healthcare. The top ancestries reported are English, Australian, Irish.
The median house price in Cairns City is $660,000, having jumped by 20.5% over the past year. Units have a median price of $380,000 (+17.4% YoY). The current median weekly rent is $485. This gives a gross rental yield of approximately 3.8%. The median monthly mortgage repayment is $1,733.
Healthcare facilities include 3 private hospitals. The crime rate in the Cairns LGA is higher than average at 11,007 incidents per 100,000 population.
Looking at the investment signals, Cairns City shows a gross rental yield of approximately 3.8%, rated as moderate yield. Property prices sit below the state median ($660K/$1.1M), which can point to relative value. The price-to-income ratio of 7.8x is considered moderate. House prices have moved +20.5% year-on-year. Population growth of +1.0% year-on-year points to stable demand fundamentals. Building approvals have changed +0% year-on-year, indicating steady development activity.
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Cairns City has enough direct local evidence for a first-pass decision.
QuickProperty mixes release files, Census baselines, and matched local services on this page. Read the status panel before treating every metric as equally fresh.
Direct state price coverage is used where present; missing house or unit anchors fall back to annual ABS SA2 matches
Use current rent as a starting signal, not as a fixed underwriting truth.
Schools, transport, and hospitals are useful as presence signals, but they still have different source cadences.
Cairns City is in the Cairns Local Government Area, QLD, postcode 4870. Council-level context for Cairns LGA (suburb mix, population, rent, and price coverage) is available on the QuickProperty LGA page.
The current median house price in Cairns City, QLD is $660K, based on the latest available sales data from state Valuers General offices and ABS Data by Region.
The median weekly rent in Cairns City is $485/wk, based on the current market rent dataset. The current rent signal is income-stretched rent market.
Income-stretched rent market: Weekly rent screens at about 62% of annual income. Use this as a suburb screening signal before comparing candidates or modelling a purchase; the matching rent ranking can provide broader market context.
QuickProperty's investment signals for Cairns City show: Moderate Yield, Below Median, Moderate. These are computed from price, rent, income, and population data — not an opaque score.
Property prices come from state Valuers General offices and ABS Data by Region. Demographics are from ABS Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA. Crime statistics are from state police agencies. Transport data is sourced from GTFS feeds.
Property prices update quarterly. RBA macro indicators update with each deploy. Demographics are from Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA 2025.