Coolangatta
Coolangatta is a border town, being the southern-most suburb of Queensland before you cross over into New South Wales. Coolangatta is bordered by Tweed Heads in the south and Bilinga to the north. It is home to world famous beaches such as Kirra, Snapper Rocks and Greenmount. Rainbow Bay and Kirra are often used to describe a suburb, but actually, they are both beaches within the suburb of Coolangatta. There has been a push to get Kirra known as it’s very own suburb https://thesourcenews.com/2020/08/31/locals-fight-to-make-kirra-a-formal-suburb/
When the waves are pumping you may catch a glimpse of world famous surfers in their own backyard such as Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning and Stephanie Gilmore. The beaches from Coolangatta’s Snapper Rocks up to Burleigh Point have now been recognised and preserved by becoming a World Surfing Reserve.
Coolangatta is a popular place to holiday and has been for many decades. Visitors from Brisbane used to catch the train and spend the holidays or weekends there. This trend continues today with visitors now arriving by car, bus and plane from domestic and international locations.
Coolangatta has a population of 5,948 with 48% of the population living in their own home and 33.15% of the population living in rental accommodation. As of October, 2022, the median price of a house in Coolangatta is $1,500,000 and a unit is $930,000. Median rent for a house is $700 per week and for a unit it is $520 per week.
Demographics
According to the ABS statistics for 2021 Coolangatta has a population of 6,541 with 94% of the population speaking English. The remainder are French, Portugese, Japanese, German and Spanish. 53% of the people rent with the average income of $668. 5% of the population earn over $2,000 per week.
Shops, restaurants and entertainment
Coolangatta’s main cafés are focussed on being within close proximity to the beaches with many beachfront high rises having cafes and restaurants at street level.
My favourite café is Espresso Cooly which is a beautiful old Queenslander which was relocated here and converted into a cafe. My favourite dinner venue is OSushi, where it satisfies my vegetarian self with the teriyaki tofu and my husband with the teriyaki beef! Always delicious. There really are so many cafes and restaurants to choose from, but special mention must go to Earth and Sea Pizza, their Grecian pizza is delicious. There are also 3 surf lifesaving clubs offering the best views of the Gold Coast. They are Coolangatta, Greenmount and Rainbow Bay Surf lifesaving clubs. They are all excellent.
If you’re after something a bit less casual there is George’s Paragon and Siblings at Kirra, both of these boast amazing views with great service.
There is a Woolworths supermarket within the Ocean Plaza complex at Coolangatta along with numerous chemists, bakeries, convenience stores and newsagents. Night life is headed up by The Cooly Hotels’ The Bandroom which is where you will find your live music fix. There’s also The Coolangatta Sands Hotel and the Rattlesnake Motel for your night time fix. Because Coolangatta is on the border, it’s a 2 minute walk across the road to Twin Towns Club which is renowned for great live shows.
Transport
Coolangatta is well connected with a bus service which services Gold Coast Airport, Varsity Lakes Train station and the major shopping centres at Robina and Pacific Fair. There are also many taxis and Ubers that are available. The Gold Coast airport has regular domestic flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Canberra, Avalon and Cairns. Whilst the newly upgraded international terminal has regular flights to NZ, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and the US.
Schools
Coolangatta is home to many wonderful schools and falls within the catchment for Coolangatta State School and Palm Beach Currumbin State High School. There is also St Joseph’s Primary School which is a Catholic primary school along with St Joseph’s College which is a Catholic high school. Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School is a private independent dual campus primary and high school which is 7km away at Tweed Heads. There is a TAFE adult college at Coolangatta which focusses on language, literacy and numeracy and there is the Southern Cross University.
The nearest kindergartens are C&K Coolangatta Community Kindergarten as well as Twin Towns Kindergarten. There is an out of school hours care at Malvern Central Combined OSHC – Camp Australia which runs out of the C&K Coolangatta Community Kindergarten.
Parks and outdoor recreation
Coolangatta’s biggest playground is the sandy beaches of Kirra, Coolangatta, Greenmount and Rainbow Bay which is where kids can delight in making sand castles and swimming, whilst adults enjoy some beach volleyball, swimming or surfing. Along with the beaches there are 15 parks with the most popular parks being Queen Elizabeth Park, Roughton Park and Goodwin Park which has a skateboarding facility. All of these parks offer picnic shelters, bbq’s, toilets and water fountains.
Employment prospects
The major employers within Coolangatta are the hospitality, tourism and health industries. Many locals are employed in Coolangatta’s hotels, restaurants and cafes along with the John Flynn hospital, the Tweed Hospital, the Southern Cross University and the Gold Coast Airport.
Areas that are less desirable
Even though Coolangatta is quite near the airport, plane noise is quite minimal due to the direction of the north-south flight path being west of Coolangatta, however in the areas that are in the north western part of Coolangatta it can get a bit noisy when planes are taking off to the South. This same area is also home to an industrial estate and there are residential properties within some of the industrial areas which are impacted by the industrial noise.
Housing type
Apartments and townhouses make up the majority of properties in Coolangatta with only 13% of the properties being freestanding houses. These free standing properties comprise of a few remaining original beach shacks along Coolangatta Road to multi-level mansions on Coolangatta hill with ocean and city skyline views.
Currently there are many new apartment developments under construction which will only continue to increase the proportion of apartments.
How much will it cost to purchase a property?
As of October, 2022 the median house price in Coolangatta is $1,318,000. Bearing in mind that the real estate agents place townhouses and duplexes in the house category. Beachfront apartments command a premium and houses on Coolangatta hill with north facing views command a premium above and beyond this price..
Due to the scarcity of houses in the Coolangatta market at the moment there are no houses for sale matching the median price and to be fair if it was at the median price it would be a stand-alone house and a do’er upper or in original condition.
For example: 25 Dixon Street, Coolangatta sold for $1,300,000 on the 10th November, 2021. Click here to view the listing and see the photos below:
The medium price for an apartment is $1,003,000. This will get you a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom property that won’t be on the beachfront, but will offer ocean glimpses.
For example: 603/4-10 Douglas Street, Coolangatta sold for $950,000 in August 2022 Click here to view the listing and see the photos below:
Coolangatta’s property supply, demand and performance.
Last month Coolangatta had 8 properties for sale and 49 properties for rent. Average rent is $750 for houses offering a rental yield of 3% and $550 for apartments offering 3.8% rental yield. However, if you are holiday letting this can be considerably higher depending on the property.
In the last 5 years Coolangatta properties have seen a compound growth rate of 8.4% for houses and 13.2% for units.
Houses spend an average of 38 days on the market where units are typically 34 days on the market.
The rental vacancy rate is currently 0.4% which is extremely low, you will find it very difficult to obtain a rental property at the moment.
** These statistics are current as of October, 2022.
Check out Coolangatta’s Community Facebook page for some additional information on the suburb.
If you would like to purchase a house or unit in the Coolangatta area or surrounds, we are locals to this area and are more than happy to assist you with your property purchase. Feel free to reach out to us for a no obligation chat. We love talking all things property!