Where you can buy property in the Gold Coast hinterland for less than $60 a square metre

“Don’t wait to buy land, buy land and wait,” as the saying goes – and for those hoping to purchase a slice of the action, there are some affordable properties available for less than $60 per square metre.

The Domain End of Year Wrap 2023 has revealed that, in the tiny outback South Australian town of Coober Pedy, 846 kilometres north of Adelaide, the cost of property is just $49 per square metre.

With a median house price of $82,500, buyers are spoilt for choice, particularly when it comes to the type of property they can purchase.

Trevor Lambert of Realty attributes the affordable price tag to its location.

SOLD - Price Withheld

LOT/979 Hamilton Parade, Coober Pedy SA 5723

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“It’s effectively the halfway point between Adelaide and Alice Springs … and it’s very much in the outback,” he says.

“You won’t get a block of land under 800 square metres here, but your average block that is purchased is about 900 square metres,” he says.

Domain data shows the median block size in Coober Pedy is 1846 square metres. At $49 a square metre, buyers would be paying $90,454 for a median property.

The mining town is known as the opal capital of the world and is also renowned for its below-ground dwellings, Lambert says.

SOLD - Price Withheld

Lot/2264 Comacchio Close, Coober Pedy SA 5723

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“You can choose to purchase above ground or an underground dugout,” he says. “For a house above ground, you can pick up a property for about $60,000 up to $160,000, whereas your dugouts can start from $100,000 and can go up to $300,000.”

Given the sweet price revealed in the Domain report, Lambert is expecting demand to increase.

“People want to get out of the big cities and want that freedom … investors are also realising this [area] and are creating rental properties, which is necessary here because we have more tenants than properties available,” he says.

For those looking for a bargain further north, buyers are better suited to look in Queensland as several postcodes there have recorded prices of less than $100 a square metre, including Glenwood at $68, Agnes Water at $74, and Regency Downs at $74.

But in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland is the rural town of Tamborine, which has a price per square metre of $57 – making it the country’s second most affordable suburb. It has a median house price of $1.12 million.

$1,500,000 +

1920 Beaudesert-Beenleigh Road, Tamborine QLD 4270

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Linda Hogan of Professionals Serendipity Tamborine Mountain says the reason why the price is so low there is because “it has no town facilities, no town water, no sewer or anything like that … you have to be a little self-sufficient to live there”.

Domain data shows the median block size in Tamborine is 20,250 square metres, which would cost $1,154,250 at $57 a square metre.

“This is an area with big blocks … the smallest block we’ve sold is about three acres (1.21 hectares),” Hogan says. “On average, people purchase between three and five-acre blocks.

“When I’m selling to people I tell them the 10-minute rule … if you go 10 minutes in any direction, you’re somewhere else, whether that’s a major supermarket or your tiny village shops. It has everything yet it’s quite secluded and beautiful.

“COVID has really piqued peoples’ interest in the suburb so I think this will definitely lift it further … the price surprised me a little bit, but not terribly. It’s affordable and people want this type of lifestyle.”