Tugun
Tugun is a border town, with the south western corner of Tugun bordering the NSW suburb of Cobaki Lakes. Tugun is also neighbours to the suburb of Bilinga to the south, Currumbin Waters to the west and Currumbin to the north. Tugun is a great holiday destination, attracting many visitors to stay in the many holiday units and motels lining the beach.
Tugun was originally settled by the Farrell family from the south of Ireland. Around 1913, 10 years after the railway from Nerang to Tweed Heads was completed the Farrell family applied for a rail stop so that they could load their produce. The siding was approved and known as the 65 mile, 46 chain stop as this is how far it was from the South Brisbane Station. Later the area was officially named Tugun once it was sub-divided into allotments. Tugun is ‘sea waves’ in aboriginal dialect with the locals always referring to the creek that divides Currumbin and Tugun as Tugun Creek, although the rocks along the beach there are known as Flat Rock.
Most buildings in Tugun have a 2, 3 or 5 storey height limit depending on the proximity of incoming planes to the Gold Coast Airport. The northern part of Tugun is directly on the flight path and locals will often pause conversation as a plane goes overhead. This is fondly known as the Tugun pause.
Tugun is home to the John Flynn Private Hospital offering new mothers a maternity ward with ocean views along with a 24 hour emergency department and many other specialist services.
Home also to the Gold Coast Desalination Plant which can produce up to 133 million litres of pure drinking water a day converting sea water to drinkable water. If required if can supply Gold Coast, Logan and Brisbane. It usually is on standby mode only running at 33% capacity, however if required it can ramp up to 100% capacity within a few days.
Tugun is also home to a local favourite The Fox’s Pantry which is open 24/7 offering a healthy convenience store full of local unique goodies, all inside a BP Service Station!
As of the 2016 Census Tugun has a population of 6,588 with 62.3% of the population living in their own home and 34.6% of the population living in rental accommodation. As of November, 2022, the median price of a house in Tugun is $1,200,000 and a unit is $772,000. Median rent for a house is $760 per week and for a unit it is $600 per week.
Tugun residents are employed in the hospitals, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, primary education and aged care industries.
https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2016/SSC32910
https://www.realestate.com.au/qld/tugun-4224/?sourcePage=rea:buy:pdp&sourceElement=suburb-profile
Demographics
According to the ABS statistics for 2016 Tugun has a population of 6,588 with 84.9% of the population speaking English. The remainder are Portugese, Japanese, French, Spanish and Mandarin. 65.2% are family households, 29.1% are single person households and 5.8% were group households.
Property dynamics in Tugun show that the dwellings are 48% houses, 25.9% semi-detached and 25.3% flats or apartments.
Shops, restaurants and entertainment
Tugun’s main cafés and restaurants are focussed around the Tugun Village area where the Tugun Currumbin Road meets the Gold Coast Highway.
My favourite café is the café inside the Tugun Market Co https://tugunmarketco.com.au/ which serves up Campos Coffee. There’s cute tables outside to enjoy them, although you are watching the cars on the highway. It’s much nicer to take your coffee and find a spot on the beach which is only a short walk away.
My favourite restaurant is the Tugun Surf Lifesaving Club which has wonderful views of the surf and great food. It’s a great place to spend a lazy afternoon. They do a great pumpkin and haloumi salad.
For your supermarket needs you cannot go past the Tugun Market Co, they offer a wonderful selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, a fromagerie that will sort out the cheese lovers, a butcher on site as well as all of your supermarket staples. They also have a great selection of pre-made food that can be easily heated up if you’re on holidays and don’t feel the need to cook.
Transport
Tugun 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
Tugun is home to many wonderful schools and falls within the primary school catchment for Elanora State School and Currumbin State School and Palm Beach Currumbin State High School and Elanora State High School. There is also Currumbin Community Special School which is a combined school, St Augustine’s Parish Primary School based at Currumbin Waters.
There are several kindergartens in Tugun, the Little Seeds Early Learning Centre, Aussie Kindies Early Learning Tugun and Tugun Tiny Totes Early Learning Centre.
Parks and outdoor recreation
Tugun’s biggest playground is the sandy beaches of Tugun and Bilinga. The Tugun Esplanade is a recreation playground where you can find barbecues, picnic tables, playgrounds, water and toilets. It’s a great place to bring the family and enjoy a day at the beach. For active teenagers there is the Betty Diamond Sports Complex which is a huge park that caters for just about everyone. Along with the Skate Park there is also an off-leash dog exercise area including a fenced area with dog agility equipment and large sports fields where you can kick a football or play some cricket. Along with enjoying the park’s facilities there is the added benefit of watching the planes come in really close as they arrive or depart Gold Coast Airport as it is positioned just north of the runway. This is where my nephew Liam likes to come along to wave to me as my plane heads off on a trip. Along with these favourite parks there are 10 others around Tugun which ensures that you are never very far from enjoying some outdoor space.
Employment prospects
The major employers within Tugun are the hospitality, tourism and health industries. Many locals are employed at the John Flynn hospital, Tugun’s hotels, restaurants and cafes along with the the Tweed Hospital, the Southern Cross University and the Gold Coast Airport. Tugun is ideally situated with easy access to the M1 highway.
Areas that are less desirable
Tugun is situated just north of the Gold Coast Airport and is directly underneath the flight path. There are some areas of Tugun where the noise is much more noticeable, however many homes have double glazed windows to reduce the impact. The areas that are most noticeable are just west of the Gold Coast Highway.
Housing type
There is an almost even spread of Houses versus Apartments and townhouses with 46.2% of the properties being a free standing property and the remainder being either apartments or townhouses. Along the beachfront and the eastern side of the Gold Coast Highway it is predominantly apartments with houses, duplexes and townhouses being the majority of housing on the western side of the Gold Coast Highway.
How much will it cost to purchase a property?
As of November, 2022 the median house price in Tugun is $1,200,000. Bearing in mind that the real estate agents place townhouses and duplexes in the house category. Beachfront houses and apartments command a premium price.
For example: 2/21 Durran Street, Tugun sold for $1,230,000 on the 20th September, 2022. Click here to view the listing and see the photos below:
The medium price for an apartment is $772,000. This will get you a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom property that won’t be on the beachfront, but will offer ocean glimpses.
For example: 9/359 Golden Four Drive, Tugun sold for $765,000 in September 2022 Click here to view the listing and see the photos below:
Coolangatta’s property supply, demand and performance.
Last month Tugun had 50 properties for sale and 29 properties for rent. Average rent is $767 for houses offering a rental yield of 3.7% and $600 for apartments offering 4.5% rental yield. However, if you are holiday letting this can be considerably higher depending on the property.
In the last 5 years Tugun properties have seen a compound growth rate of 26.3% for houses and 14.4% for units.
Houses spend an average of 39 days on the market where units are typically 27 days on the market.
The rental vacancy rate is currently 0.77% which is extremely low, you will find it very difficult to obtain a rental property at the moment.
** These statistics are current as of November, 2022, supplied by Realestate.com.au on behalf of Proptrack Pty Ltd.
Check out Tugun’s Community Facebook page for some additional information on the suburb.
If you would like to purchase a house or unit in the Tugun 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!