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Suburb profile ·Charters Towers LGA · QLD ·4816

Paluma QLD 4816

Paluma is in Charters Towers LGA, QLD, postcode 4816, with population 87.

Limited data

Thin-context

The page is still useful for local context, but the evidence stack is too thin for a clean one-page call. Use nearby stronger suburbs or compare mode before treating it as a serious shortlist decision.

What to check

Evidence depth is verify-heavy, so the profile should be treated as provisional. The page is thin enough that nearby alternatives should be checked before shortlisting. Small local population makes the signal set more fragile.

Median house
No local house series
Median rent
$160/wk
Market rent signal
D2 vs AU
Gross yield
Need rent + price
Population
12,088
12K via Charters Towers LGA · SAL undercount
Schools
No matched school data
Drive to city
Not in commute dataset
Solar
2,938
240 added 12mo · 21MW

Price history

No price history available

Price series isn't recorded for this suburb. Census housing data is shown instead.

Median mortgage · mth$1,517
Median rent · wk$160
Investor profile

Who invests in Paluma

Owner-occupied 84%Rented 16%
Investor activityATO
Negatively geared5.9%
317 of 624 landlords
Avg rental loss$6,537/yr
Landlords (rental income)624
Reported capital gains374
The read

Owner-occupier stronghold

97% of homes here are owner-occupied and 19% rented, with 6% of landlords negatively geared.

Why it fits

97% owner-occupied — owner-occupiers hold longer and absorb rate shocks, supporting price stability.

ABS Census 2021 tenure (G37), ATO postcode rental statistics, and QuickProperty's investor-exposure index. Owner-occupied = owned outright + with a mortgage.

Affordability

12%
median weekly rent as a share of gross household income (the 30% rule)
Manageable

Owners with a mortgage repay a median of $1,517/mo, while renters pay about $693/mo — owning runs $824/mo higher on these medians.

Household income · yr
$70K
Median rent · wk
$160
Owner mortgage · mo
$1,517

Household income

$70K household · yr-11.8% vs QLD suburb median
Personal
$42K
Family
$110K
Household
$70K
Household income distribution (ABS Census 2021 · weekly)
Under $300
3
$300-649
5
$650-999
7
$1,000-1,499
3
$1,500-1,999
8
$2,000-2,999
5
$3,000-3,999
5
$4,000+
5

At the median asking rent, about 20% of households here would spend more than 30% of income on rent (rent stress line: $533/wk income).

Housing stock and tenure

Tenure (32 households)
Owned outright
78%
Owned with mortgage
19%
Rented
19%
Dwelling structure58.3% of dwellings unoccupied on census night
Separate house
100%
Townhouse / semi
0%
Flat / apartment
0%

Getting to work: 30% drive, 0% public transport, 19% walk or cycle, 30% worked from home (2021 Census, taken during COVID-era work-from-home arrangements).

Crime Year ending May 2026
8,151
8,151 per 100k
D8 vs AU

Crime

Rate · per 100k8,151
Total incidents8,151· Year ending May 2026
  • Assault2,32533%
  • Break And Enter6299%
  • Drug Offences2,64838%
  • Fraud1,43820%

Bushfire exposure

Severe exposure ~93.0%
~93.0% of the suburb is Bush Fire Prone Land · ~14.0% Category 1 (highest hazard)

Estimated exposure to NSW RFS Bush Fire Prone Land (CC BY), point-sampled across the suburb. This shows how much of the suburb sits within the official hazard layer — it is not a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating or a property-level assessment. Obtain a BAL assessment (AS 3959) for an individual property.

Planning zones

Dominant zone Environmental management and conservation
Public / Open space 1%

Land-use mix estimated by point-sampling the suburb against Queensland council planning-scheme zone polygons (CC BY 4.0). This is a suburb-level snapshot of planning zones, not a parcel-level zoning certificate or development advice. Check the relevant planning scheme for an individual property.

Population outlook

3,807 people · 20223,773 by 2032 (-0.9%)

ABS population projection (2022 base) for the Dalrymple SA2 statistical area — the finest official projection grain available; suburb-level projections do not exist.

Full data detail Census · ATO · ABS · state datasets
Paluma QLD — Property Data and Demographics

Located in Queensland within the Charters Towers local government area, Paluma is a small, quiet locality (postcode 4816). With a population of 87, the suburb has an older demographic with a median age of 58. Households earn a median income of $70K per year, with an average household size of 2 people. Recent annual estimates show population movement staying broadly stable across the broader catchment, with population growth running at +0.5% year-on-year at the LGA level. QLD employment has moved +1.4% year-on-year in the official ABS Labour Force trend series, which provides the broader jobs backdrop for this suburb. QLD also had 35 Commonwealth-backed major projects under construction, 16 underway, and 30 in planning as at 2025-09-01, which is useful as a broader delivery backdrop rather than a suburb-specific project count. The most common occupations are managers, clerical & administrative, labourers. Employment in the area leans toward agriculture and education. The top ancestries reported are English, Australian, Scottish.

The median weekly rent is $160 (Census 2021). The median monthly mortgage repayment is $1,517.

The crime rate in the Charters Towers LGA is higher than average at 8,151 incidents per 100,000 population.

On the investment side, Population growth of +0.5% year-on-year points to stable demand fundamentals. Building approvals have changed +0% year-on-year, indicating steady development activity.

Market & money
Investment signalsHeuristics
Pop. Growth+0.5%· Stable
Development+0%· Steady
InvestmentQLD
Mortgage · mth$1,517
Rent · wk(Census)$160
Population growth · Charters Towers LGAABS ERP
Population (2025)12,088
5-year growth+0.3% CAGR
YoY change+0.5%
20012025
Development · Charters Towers LGAABS Approvals
Approvals (2026)22
Houses22
YoY change+0%
Employment · Charters Towers LGASALM
Unemployment (Dec-25)6.5%
YoY change+1.3pp
Dec-10Dec-25
Property investors · Postcode 4816ATO
Negatively geared5.9%
317 of filers
Avg rental loss$6,537/yr
Landlords (rental income)624
Reported capital gains374
People & prosperity
DemographicsCensus 21
Population87
Median age58
Household size2
HH income · wk$1,350
Personal income · wk$812
Persons / bedroom0.7
SEIFA indexABS
Advantage (IRSAD)3/10
Education (IEO)4/10
Economic (IER)4/10
Disadvantage (IRSD)4/10
Income momentumCensus 16→21
HH income · wk$599 → $1,350
Change+125.4%
vs QLD median+107.4 pp
Median rent+6.7%
gentrifyingvs QLD 2016–21
Area & amenity
Local amenitiesOSM
Supermarkets0
Pharmacies0
GP / clinics0
Fuel stations0
Cafes & dining1
Hospitals · Charters Towers LGAAIHW
Public2
Private0
Charters Towers Hospitalpublic
Charters Towers Rehabilitation Unitpublic
Aged care · Charters Towers LGAGEN
Facilities2
Residential places199
Eventide Charters Towers110 places
Dalrymple Villa89 places
Childcare · Charters Towers LGAACECQA
Services4
Approved places196
Exceeding NQS0
Gro Early Learning90 places
Columba Catholic Kindergarten56 places
Richmond Hill State School P & C Association40 places
Pentland State School Kindergarten10 places
Shortlist workspace

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Current status
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Sources & freshness
Verify-heavy evidence

Paluma leans on evidence that should be verified before a 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.

PRICE POSTURE
Prices come from release-based suburb series.

QVAS residential dwelling sales aggregated to SA2 and mapped to suburb pages

RENT POSTURE
Rent is falling back to Census, not a market feed.

This gives you directional coverage, but it is weaker than a current rent release.

SERVICE POSTURE
Service coverage is matched locally, not inferred nationally.

Schools, transport, and hospitals are useful as presence signals, but they still have different source cadences.

Data status
Property prices
QGSO Housing Profiles · QVAS residential dwelling sales aggregated to SA2 and mapped to suburb pages
medium stability · automated · every update · quarterly
Missing
Market rent
ABS Census 2021 · Using Census rent fallback
stable source · manual file · snapshot · census-cycle
Verify
Crime
State crime dataset · Year ending May 2026 · Area-level release dataset
Available
Schools
ACARA 2025 · No local school matches exposed
stable source · automated · every update · annual
Missing
Hospitals
AIHW · No linked local hospital coverage
medium stability · manual file · snapshot · mixed
Missing
Transport
GTFS feeds · No matched local transport stops
medium stability · manual file · snapshot · mixed
Missing
Population growth
ABS ERP · 2025 · Annual estimate series
stable source · automated · every update · annual
Available
Building approvals
ABS Building Approvals · 2026 · Annual release series
stable source · automated · every update · monthly
Available
Available means a direct local dataset is linked. Verify means coverage exists but freshness or precision is weaker, such as ABS price fallback, Census rent fallback, or low-confidence hospital matching.
Sparse locality note

This page stays indexable because Paluma is a real locality with enough context to be directionally useful. The tradeoff is that coverage is lighter than a stronger suburb profile, so the read should stay cautious.

WHY IT LOOKS LIGHTER
This is a real locality, but it has a very small Census footprint.

Small-population localities can still be worth checking, but rankings, comparisons, and broad suburb assumptions become noisier faster.

WHAT IS MISSING
Coverage is lighter across school matches, hospital coverage, and transport stops.

The main gaps on this page are school matches, hospital coverage, and transport stops. That narrows how much confidence you should place on a single-page read.

BEST NEXT STEP
Use this page to understand the locality shape, then compare outward.

Use it for context first, then move to compare, the state hub, or a larger nearby suburb before calling it a full market decision.

Page status
INDEXED WITH LIGHTER COVERAGE

This page remains visible, but it should be read as a locality brief rather than a full-confidence suburb profile.

HOW TO READ THIS PAGE

Use this page to set direction, not to close a decision — frame the locality here, then confirm with compare, stronger nearby suburbs, and the state hub.

Stronger nearby reads

If Paluma feels too thin on its own, use these nearby suburbs as stronger local reads before making a shortlist decision.

Columbia most similar
similar rent profile similar suburb scale

pop same · rent +$60/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Alabama Hill most similar
similar rent profile similar suburb scale

pop same · rent +$90/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Llanarth most similar
similar suburb scale

pop same · rent +$156/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Paluma FAQ

Common questions
  1. What LGA is Paluma in?

    Paluma is in the Charters Towers Local Government Area, QLD, postcode 4816. Council-level context for Charters Towers LGA (suburb mix, population, rent, and price coverage) is available on the QuickProperty LGA page.

  2. What is the typical weekly rent in Paluma?

    The median weekly rent in Paluma is $160/wk, based on ABS Census 2021 rent fallback.

  3. Is Paluma a good investment?

    QuickProperty's investment signals for Paluma show: Stable, Steady. These are computed from price, rent, income, and population data — not an opaque score.

  4. Where does QuickProperty get its data for Paluma?

    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.

  5. How often is the Paluma data updated?

    Property prices update quarterly. RBA macro indicators update with each deploy. Demographics are from Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA 2025.