Modified last 1 September, 2026.
Investing in Apartments in Australia
In September 2025, the Gold Coast overtook Sydney on unit prices for the first time. Its median unit price hit $956,000, ahead of Sydney at $927,000.
This year, the market has gone the other way. According to Cotality’s Monthly Housing Chart Pack, Melbourne and Sydney are past their peaks, and the downturn has now reached Brisbane and Adelaide. The Gold Coast has held up better than most, but last year’s figures no longer describe today’s market.
Each year, the market gives you a different answer. A year ago, it was yes. Today it is closer to no. There are three things matter more than the cycle.
Supply. Land ran out, so cities built up. On the Gold Coast, the shortage is severe, which is why a well-placed building holds its value and generic stock does not.
Rental demand. Higher prices have pushed a home loan out of reach for many younger buyers. They rather rent apartments instead.
Finance. Two people can buy the same apartment at the same price and be out of pocket by very different amounts. The lender decides your deposit, your repayments, and whether the loan gets approved at all.
So, the useful question is not whether apartments are still a good investment. It is which apartment, and whether you can fund it.
At Eakins Finance, we have settled more than $500 million in lending over 20 years, mostly for property investors and medical professionals, from our offices at Southport and Cairns.
Below, we break down what apartments cost to hold, how they compare to houses, the tax changes landing in 2027, and what lenders check before they will fund one. We have also included two recent Gold Coast deals, one off-the-plan and one established, where the loan changed the outcome more than the property did.
Recent Gold Coast Apartment Deals
Finance is the part buyers think about last and the part that decides the most. Here are two purchases we settled recently, and what made the difference in each.
Off-the-plan at Broadbeach
In March 2026, a client came to us to buy a three-bedroom off-the-plan apartment at Broadbeach for $2,300,000. Later that year, units on lower levels of the same building were released at $2,600,000. Same floorplan, worse position, $300,000 more in under six months.
On paper, it looks like a straightforward win. What the number does not show is the gap between signing and settlement.
On an off-the-plan purchase, your finance is not assessed when you sign. It is assessed at completion, which can be 18 to 30 months later. In that time, servicing rules change, so do assessment rates, and so does each lender’s appetite for the particular building you have bought into. If the valuation at settlement comes in below the contract price, then you pay the difference in cash.
This is what I meant earlier about which apartment, and whether you can fund it. You can pick the right building and pay the right price, and a policy change two years later can still catch you. That is why I work out the settlement position before a client signs.
A first home buyer at $1,000,000
A first home buyer bought an established Gold Coast apartment for $1,000,000. A lenders mortgage insurance waiver meant a 10-per-cent deposit instead of 20-per-cent, saving around $20,000.
We deliberately kept the loan outside the government guarantee scheme, now called the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme. That scheme requires you to live in the property as your principal place of residence, and investment properties do not qualify. Staying outside it means this client can rent the apartment out later without changing loan type or paying mortgage insurance again.
HECS nearly ended the deal. A lender starts with your income, then subtracts your regular commitments to see what is left for a mortgage. Most lenders count HECS repayments as one of those commitments. This client was borrowing close to their limit, so that one deduction dropped the approval below the purchase price.
The lender we chose does not count HECS at all when the balance is $20,000 or less, with evidence from the ATO. Same client, same income, same apartment. The only thing that changed was where we sent the application.
Neither deal was decided by the property. Both were decided by the loan.
Case studies are real client outcomes. Individual results depend on your circumstances and lender credit policy at the time of application.
Key Differences Between Apartments and Houses
Below is a side-by-side comparison between apartments and standalone houses:
Feature | Apartments | Standalone Houses |
Initial Cost | Lower purchase price Lower stamp duty and legal fees Lower furnishing costs for a smaller space | Higher purchase price Higher stamp duty and legal fees Higher inspection costs and reports Higher furnishing costs |
Ongoing Costs | Body corporate fees Shared maintenance costs Lower insurance costs
| No body corporate fees Higher maintenance costs Council rates Higher insurance costs |
Rental Yields | Generally higher yields. Lower vacancy rates | Lower rental yields. Higher vacancy rates |
Capital Growth | Driven by scarcity of the building and its location. Apartments outperform where new supply is constrained and demand is concentrated. Generic stock in oversupplied areas performs poorly | Driven by the underlying land value. As demand for housing rises, so does the value of the land. Houses have historically led over long holding periods |
The table splits them into two different assets. Houses grow because the land underneath them gets more valuable. Apartments grow because the building itself is hard to replace.
To tell the difference, ask yourself one question. Could this property be built again nearby?
A house on a large block in a built-out suburb could not. Neither could a well-placed apartment in a building that would never be approved today. Nothing else can take their place, so they hold their value.
Meanwhile, a small, generic unit in a tower of identical units is the opposite. Another one just like it can always be built. That slows its growth, and it makes lenders more cautious about it.
Get that right and everything else works. Rental income, capital growth and tax treatment all fall in your favour. Get it wrong and none of them will make up for it.
Who Is Buying Apartments on the Gold Coast
Knowing who else is in the market tells you two things. Who you are bidding against, and who will rent from you later.
Millennials and Gen Z want the lifestyle and amenities of urban areas, so apartments suit them. Most will rent for years before they buy, which makes them the largest source of rental demand.
Baby Boomers are retiring. Some want passive income. Others want to downsize into something secure and low maintenance without the upkeep of a house. On the Gold Coast, this group drives much of the demand for larger two and three-bedroom apartments, which is worth knowing if you are choosing between a one-bedroom and a two.
Investors buy for income, growth and diversification. Local investors have the advantage of knowing the market. Foreign investors face a hard limit. From 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, foreign persons are banned from buying established dwellings in Australia, with limited exceptions. New and off-the-plan apartments are still open to them with approval, which is why overseas money now concentrates in new Gold Coast projects.
High income professionals are the group we see most, particularly doctors, dentists, specialists and business owners. Deposit size is rarely their problem. Time, borrowing capacity and structure are. Many are buying a third or fourth property, and some lenders offer them concessions other borrowers cannot get, including waived mortgage insurance at higher loan to value ratios. For them the decision is not about affordability. It is about which lender to use, and in what order.
Two of these groups matter more than the rest when you choose a building. Boomers are competing for larger apartments, which supports resale on two and three-bedroom stock. Millennials and Gen Z are renting them, which supports your yield.
Reasons to Invest in Apartments
Apartments give you rental income, capital growth over time, and the ability to control a larger asset with a smaller deposit. That is true of most property. What follows is what changes your return.
Depreciation works differently on new and established. You can claim capital works deductions on construction costs, generally 2.5 per cent a year over 40 years. Depreciating assets like appliances and fittings follow different rules. Since 2017 you cannot claim them on second-hand residential property at all. A new build gives you the full schedule. An established apartment does not.
Two tax changes take effect on 1 July 2027, and they work differently from each other.
Negative gearing changes for established property. If you signed a contract after 7.30pm AEST on 12 May 2026, losses on an established residential property can no longer reduce your salary income. They are not lost. They can still be offset against income from other residential property, including capital gains on residential property, and anything left over carries forward to later years. New builds are exempt. If you held the property, or had already signed, before that time, the current rules continue to apply.
Capital gains tax changes for everyone. This is the part most commonly misunderstood. The 50 per cent discount is replaced by a discount based on inflation, plus a minimum 30 per cent tax on gains, and it applies to gains that accrue from 1 July 2027 whatever year you bought. Buying before 12 May 2026 does not protect you here. Gains accrued up to 30 June 2027 keep the existing treatment, with transitional rules for assets held across that date.
Speak to your accountant, as treatment depends on your circumstances.
Leverage is the one people underestimate. How much you need upfront comes down to lender policy, not the property. A standard investment purchase needs a 20 per cent deposit to avoid mortgage insurance. On a $1,000,000 apartment that is $200,000. Eligible medical professionals can often buy the same apartment with $100,000, because several lenders waive that insurance for them.
That matters most for the buyers I see who have strong income but not much saved yet. Registrars and early-career specialists earn well and have spent years studying instead of building a deposit. The waiver removes the insurance cost, not the assessment, so the loan still has to be serviced. But it can bring a purchase forward by a year or more.
No two lenders treat any of this the same way. I spent 12 years inside the big four banks before I moved to broking, and the gap between their credit policies is the thing clients underestimate most. It is usually worth more than the interest rate. We hold accreditation with over 40 lenders, which is what lets me compare them properly.
Pros and Cons of Buying an Apartment
Here is the full picture, good and bad. Two of these come up in nearly every deal I work on, and I have flagged them below.
Pros
- Lower upfront costs from lower purchase prices, stamp duty and legal fees than standalone houses
- Convenient locations with access to amenities, transport and employment
- Steady rental income, with less hands-on management than a house
- Capital growth, strongest where new supply is constrained, weaker on city outskirts and in rural areas
- Tax benefits including capital works and depreciation deductions, with negative gearing and the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount still available on new builds
- Diversification across your investment portfolio, which helps balance risk
- Lender concessions such as waived mortgage insurance for eligible professionals, which cuts the deposit required (comes up in nearly every deal)
Cons
- Limited space compared with houses, which may not suit families
- Body corporate fees add to ongoing expenses
- Oversupply in some markets can affect yields and capital growth
- New developments can obscure views and reduce value
- Established apartments contracted after 7.30pm on 12 May 2026 can no longer be negatively geared against salary income from 1 July 2027
- The capital gains tax discount changes from 1 July 2027 for all investors, including those who bought years earlier
- Building defects, which can lead to costly repairs or special levies
- Renovation restrictions imposed by the body corporate or building management
- Parking limitations, with fewer spaces for residents and visitors
- Lender restrictions on smaller units, high density postcodes and serviced apartments, which limit how much you can borrow (comes up in nearly every deal)
- Settlement risk on off-the-plan purchases, where any shortfall between contract price and valuation at settlement is paid in cash
Almost every problem I see comes from the same place. Someone finds out after signing that the lender will not fund the apartment they have bought or will not fund it at the ratio they assumed.
Factors to Consider When Buying an Apartment
Most of what follows is what I check before a client makes an offer, and roughly in this order.
Location
Proximity to amenities matters to whoever will live there. Schools for families, healthcare for older residents, offices for working tenants, shops and services for everyone. Work out who your tenant is first, then check the location against that person rather than against a general list.
Public transport decides it for many renters. Look at frequency and reliability, and how easily a tenant could reach the CBD or their likely workplace.
Environmental factors cut both ways. Factories, airports, industrial areas and crime hotspots put tenants off through noise, pollution or reputation. Parks, green space and recreation pull them in.
Views sell apartments, and this is the one I would push back on hardest. An unobstructed outlook adds real value, but only if it cannot be built out. Before you pay a premium for a view on the Gold Coast, find out what the site next door is zoned for. I have seen buyers pay for an outlook that a development application removed inside three years.
Property type
High-rise and low-rise each have trade-offs. High-rise buildings usually offer more amenities, lifts and modern fire safety systems, but they can suffer from noise and wind. Low-rise buildings tend to be quieter with easier ground level access.
Building age affects condition, maintenance and growth potential. Older buildings need more repairs. Newer ones come with modern features and better depreciation treatment.
Body corporate fees are governed by the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 in Queensland and cover common area maintenance, insurance and management. Do not stop at the current levy. Ask for the sinking fund forecast, which projects future major works and tells you whether a special levy is coming. On older Gold Coast towers, I also check for combustible cladding remediation, because that can produce levies well beyond the ordinary budget.
Rental market
Rental demand in the immediate area drives both yield and capital growth. Work out who is likely to rent there, then find out what comparable units actually achieve.
Gross yield is not what you keep, and this is the number I most often have to correct. Body corporate levies on a Gold Coast tower commonly run $9,000 to $14,000 a year. Take an $850,000 two-bedroom unit renting at $800 a week. Gross rent is $41,600, or roughly 4.9 per cent. Deduct $11,000 in levies, $2,400 in council rates, $1,500 in landlord insurance and $3,000 in management fees, and net income falls to about $23,700. That is 2.8 per cent net, before loan costs. The levy does not sit on top of the yield. It is a large part of the yield.
Ask for the body corporate disclosure statement and the sinking fund forecast before you make an offer, not after.
Queensland land tax
Land tax applies to individuals once the total taxable value of your Queensland land reaches $600,000 or more at 30 June, including your share of land held jointly. Companies, trustees and absentee owners have a lower threshold of $350,000. It is assessed on unimproved land value and aggregated across everything you hold in Queensland, not property by property.
Apartment owners often assume this does not apply to them. It does. Each unit carries a share of the land beneath the building, so an owner of one of 14 identical units holds roughly 7 per cent of that land value. Your own home is generally exempt. For clients buying a third or fourth Queensland property, this is usually the point where it starts to bite, and it is worth modelling before you buy rather than finding out at assessment.
What Lenders Look At
Everything above tells you whether an apartment is a good property. A separate set of factors decides whether a lender will fund it, and buyers often find out only after signing.
Internal size is the most common obstacle. Many lenders restrict lending on units under roughly 50 square metres of internal living area, measured without balconies or car spaces. Some decline outright. Others reduce the maximum loan to value ratio, which means a larger deposit.
Postcode and building exposure limits apply in high density areas. Lenders cap how much they will lend against anyone building or postcode, and those limits change without notice. A property that was financeable last year may not be now.
Letting arrangements narrow the field considerably. Serviced apartments, buildings running a letting pool and complexes with hotel style management all reduce the available lender panel and attract lower loan to value ratios.
Building condition matters to a lender as much as to you. A known defect history or a special levy in the pipeline affects both the valuation and the servicing assessment.
Title and structure can also limit choice. Company title and student accommodation are financeable at some lenders and not others, usually at a reduced loan to value ratio.
Checking these before you make an offer is straightforward. The alternative is discovering the problem after you have signed.
How Investors and Medical Professionals Finance an Apartment
Two buyers can pay the same price for the same apartment and end up with very different outcomes. The difference is usually the loan.
It also depends on why you are buying. Lenders assess investment loans differently to owner-occupier ones, and that changes your borrowing power.
How much deposit you actually need
Medical professionals are treated differently. Most investment purchases need a 20 per cent deposit to avoid lenders mortgage insurance. Many lenders waive that insurance entirely for doctors, allowing them to borrow up to 90 or even 95 per cent of the property value. The same rule applies to specialists, surgeons and other registered practitioners. Investment purchases usually sit at 90 per cent. The 95 per cent tier is generally reserved for a home you live in.
On a $1,000,000 apartment, that concession is worth somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000.
Where the mortgage insurance waiver runs out
The waiver has a ceiling. Most lenders will only waive mortgage insurance up to around $5 million per property and around $7.5 million in total lending across everything you hold with them. Some cap it lower.
Anyone buying a third or fourth property is heading toward that limit. Which lender holds which property, and in what order you finance them, decides how much of the waiver is left for the next purchase. That is a decision to make before you sign, not after.
What affects how much you can borrow
Lenders assess your income against your existing commitments. Two things have recently changed here.
APRA now allows lenders to ignore HECS repayments where the debt will be paid off soon. Not every lender applies this the same way, which is why one bank approves an application another declines.
There is also a new limit on high debt lending. According to Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, from 1 February 2026, banks can lend up to 20 per cent of new mortgage lending at debt of six times income or more, counted separately for owner occupiers and investors. APRA expects little near term effect on access to credit, though the impact falls mainly on investors. If you already own property, this is often the real constraint.
Why off-the-plan sits outside the DTI cap
The cap does not apply to every loan. Bridging loans for owner-occupiers and loans for new dwellings are excluded, so the limit does not restrict the supply of new housing.
That matters for the Broadbeach purchase above, which is a new dwelling. An investor near the six times threshold may find an off the plan apartment financeable when an established unit at the same price is not. Non-bank lenders sit outside the rule entirely, since it applies only to authorised deposit-taking institutions.
It is not a reason to buy off the plan on its own, given the settlement risk covered earlier. It is a reason to think about the order in which you buy.
Buying through a trust or company
Waivers are usually assessed against you as an individual. Buying through a trust or company can put the concession out of reach or require you to act as guarantor.
The structure your accountant recommends and the structure a lender will fund are not always the same. Sorting that out before you sign avoids an expensive change later.
This is general information only and does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not tax advice.
Apartment Cost Comparison in Major Australian Markets
Real estate market conditions are dynamic and can change over time. It’s essential to conduct thorough research and consult with local experts for the most up-to-date information.
| Gold Coast | Melbourne | Cairns | Sydney | Brisbane |
Market Condition | Severe supply constraint, strong interstate migration, easing after a long run | Strong economy, high population growth, still below its previous peak | Tourism driven economy, seasonal fluctuations, affordable market | Limited supply, prices high relative to incomes, leading the national downturn | Growing economy, affordable relative to Sydney, now easing |
Rental Yields | High | Moderate to high | Moderate to high depending on season | Low – the lowest of any capital | Low to moderate |
Capital Growth Potential | Excellent | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate to Strong |
Sources: PropTrack, Cotality, Cairns Economic Monitor and the Property Council of Australia. Ratings reflect conditions as at July 2026.
Gold Coast held the highest median unit price in the country as of October 2025, and short supply is the reason. The Property Council of Australia expects new apartment supply to fall from 1,900 units in 2025 to 1,400 in 2026, with only 50 units certain for 2027. With little coastal land left and high building costs, that shortage is likely to continue.
Melbourne has among the cheapest units of the mainland capitals. Population growth and a broad economy support it, though values are still below their previous peak.
Sydney is leading the national downturn. Supply is genuinely limited, but prices sit high against incomes, and rental yields are the lowest of any capital.
Brisbane grew strongly for years and is now easing. It remains more affordable than Sydney, though unit prices have closed much of that gap.
Cairns has strengthened from a lower base. The median unit price reached $473,000 in April 2026, up 20 per cent in a year, with units outperforming houses. Tourism makes yields more seasonal than in the southeast.
In general, houses have historically outgrown units. That reversed over the past year as more buyers moved to what they could afford.
Are You Ready To Invest In An Apartment?
Apartments have become a larger part of the Australian investment market, particularly in coastal Queensland, and constrained supply is a big part of why. That does not make them low risk. The same building can be an excellent purchase or a difficult one depending on its size, its body corporate, its supply outlook and whether a lender will fund it.
Which brings this back to where it started. The market gives you a different answer every year, so it is not much use in deciding. What decides it is which apartment you buy and how you fund it.
After 12 years inside the big four banks and 20 years arranging finance, the pattern I see has not changed. Buyers spend months choosing the property and days choosing the loan. It is usually the loan that determines what the property is worth to them.
Get the building right and the finance right, and an apartment does exactly what you need it to. Get either wrong or the numbers stop working, often before settlement.
If you are weighing up an apartment purchase, I work with property investors and medical professionals across Southeast Queensland and Far North Queensland, from our offices at Southport and Cairns. Get in touch before you sign anything, not after.
