Median priceⓘLast 12 months
429kk
↑ +10.9% YoY
Cairns North is led by unit rentals, with 302 leases (up 2.7%) at $540 a week (up 10.2%), renting out in about 18 days, among the country's most in-demand unit rental markets, mostly 2-bedroom (around 55%).
Unit sales sit just behind, with 239 sales (up 6.2%) at around $429K (up 10.9%), taking about 27 days to sell (up from 26 days last year), mostly 2-bedroom (around 55%). Rounding it out, 46 house rentals at $605 a week and 26 house sales at around $751K.
Who lives hereA below-average-income, mostly-renter, young-professional suburb — strongly multicultural, apartment-dominated and newcomer-heavy.
House covers houses, duplexes, semi-detached and terraces; Unit covers apartments, units, townhouses and villas.
Census data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — © Commonwealth of Australia, 2021 Census of Population and Housing and Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) 2021 · Shares, ratios and percentiles shown are Micromarkets transformations of that data · licensed CC BY 4.0.
The age structure, household make-up, and cultural fabric of the people who call this suburb home.
Share of all residents by 5-year band · hover a band for the count + split
10% report Irish ancestry, but only 0.7% were born in Ireland — the gap is the Australian-born and diaspora Irish community, invisible in birthplace alone.
A mix of established and newer migrant families.
2020–21 understated — COVID border closures.
Census data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — © Commonwealth of Australia, 2021 Census of Population and Housing · Shares, ratios and percentiles shown are Micromarkets transformations of that data · licensed CC BY 4.0.
What it costs to live here, who owns versus rents, and the shape of the housing stock.
Census data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — © Commonwealth of Australia, 2021 Census of Population and Housing · Shares, ratios and percentiles shown are Micromarkets transformations of that data · licensed CC BY 4.0.
Incomes, employment, and the occupation mix of the people who live here.
A typical household earns about 1.6× the typical individual here.
Census data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — © Commonwealth of Australia, 2021 Census of Population and Housing · Shares, ratios and percentiles shown are Micromarkets transformations of that data · licensed CC BY 4.0.
How people get to work, and how car-dependent the suburb is — the clearest tell of inner-urban versus outer-suburban living.
Census data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — © Commonwealth of Australia, 2021 Census of Population and Housing · Shares, ratios and percentiles shown are Micromarkets transformations of that data · licensed CC BY 4.0.
Education · ACARA My School 2025
2 schools inside Cairns North, plus the closest options around it. Distances are straight-line from the suburb centre and are not enrolment catchments — always confirm zones with the school.
ICSEA is ACARA’s official measure of a school’s socio-educational advantage — based mainly on parents’ education and occupation, plus the school’s location and student mix.
Why are some State Rank and star ratings blank? Schools can choose not to publish their results. In practice, schools that score well above their state average almost always publish theirs — so a blank rating more often reflects a school opting out than a top result being hidden. Academic results also tend to rise with ICSEA Rank, so higher-ICSEA schools more often carry a strong State Rank as well.
School profile and ICSEA data sourced from ACARA — © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (data year 2025) · State Rank & star columns are Micromarkets-compiled academic ratings from publicly available school results · Distances are straight-line from the suburb centre, not catchments.
How settled or transient the community is — and where newcomers came from.
Headline price, rent, yield and time on market for Cairns North — choose a property type and size below.
Every segment this suburb tracks — sales and rentals side by side, ranked by total activity over the last twelve months.
Where each segment sits against its peers in the chosen geography — past the midline means it's outperforming the rest.
Market demandHow fast this market is moving — a velocity index built from trailing-year transaction volume and median days on market. Strong volume lifts the score; days on market drags it down, with the drag growing sharply once listings start lingering. Ranked against peers in the chosen geography.
What it costs each week to own a property versus renting the same one — positive means buying carries the premium, negative means rent covers the mortgage.
Two questions on one chart — how strong demand is right now, and which way it's heading year-on-year.
Eight diagnostic views cutting the data a different way each time — Cairns North in blue, peers in colour.
How long current listings would take to clear at the recent rate of sales or leases. Critical shortage and Oversupply only fire at the genuine tails of the national distribution — sales tip in under 0.7 months, rentals far faster, under 0.3.
Out of every property transaction in this suburb, what share are sales versus leases — each point a rolling twelve-month window.
Each tape traces one metric across sixty months for the selected segment — every point a trailing twelve-month figure, matching the headline KPIs above.
Every market within reach of Cairns North, ranked by distance — each compared against this suburb's Units · Total segment so divergence reads at a glance.
QLD markets whose Units · Total segment behaves most like Cairns North's on the buy side — ranked by a like-for-like blend of price, yield, days on market, ownership cost and cycle phase.
Comparable sales markets to Cairns North include Clifton Beach (QLD 4879), Manunda (QLD 4870), Westcourt (QLD 4870), Cannonvale (QLD 4802), Douglas (QLD 4814), Townsville City (QLD 4810), Holloways Beach (QLD 4878) and Smithfield (QLD 4878). Each link opens that suburb's full market report.
23 data-driven answers about Cairns North's property market — every one computed from the metrics above.
The median house price in Cairns North, QLD 4870 is $751k as of June 2026, based on 26 sales recorded over the past 12 months. Houses there have moved +3.6% year-on-year. Prices vary by bedroom count, from compact two-bedroom homes to larger four-bedroom houses. See the bedroom-level breakdown below for 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom medians.
The median unit price in Cairns North, QLD 4870 is $429k as of June 2026, based on 239 sales over the past 12 months. Units have moved +10.9% year-on-year and currently trade at roughly 57% of the median house price.
The median weekly house rent in Cairns North is $605 as of June 2026, drawn from 46 leases over the past 12 months. Units rent for around $540 per week. House rents have moved +3.4% year-on-year. Current vacancy pressure is shown in the supply section above.
Gross rental yield in Cairns North is 4.20% for houses and 6.50% for units as of June 2026, compared with the QLD unit median of 4.35%. Gross yield is annual rent divided by purchase price — it doesn't account for ownership costs like council rates, strata, maintenance or vacancy.
As of June 2026, Cairns North medians by bedroom count:
| Property | 1 bed | 2 bed | 3 bed | 4 bed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houses | — | $711k | $769k | $960k | $751k |
| Units | $340k | $450k | $611k | — | $429k |
Figures cover only segments with enough recent transactions to be statistically meaningful; sparse segments are excluded.
At the median Cairns North unit ($429k purchase, $540/week rent), weekly mortgage repayments sit at roughly $475 — about $65 less per week than renting. That gap is the ownership premium. Figures assume 80% LVR, a 6.0% interest rate and a 30-year principal-and-interest loan.
Cairns North's property market trends to June 2026: house prices rose +3.6% year-on-year and units +10.9%; weekly house rents moved +3.4%; homes now sell in a median 21 days — faster than a year ago by 13; sales supply sits at 1.8 months (very tight). Read together — price, rent, selling speed and supply — they show which way the Cairns North market is leaning. The 5-year tape and demand cycle charts above plot the full trajectory.
As of June 2026 in Cairns North, house prices rose +3.6% over the year, gross rental yield is 4.20% against a QLD median of 3.71%, houses take a median 21 days to sell, sales supply is 1.8 months (very tight). Capital growth, rental yield, selling speed and supply are the signals investors weigh — but these figures describe the market, not a recommendation. This is data, not financial advice; always do your own research and consider a licensed adviser.
Houses in Cairns North sell in a median 21 days on market as of June 2026, with units clearing slightly slower at 27 days. Days on market have tightened by 13 days versus a year ago. Faster clearance typically coincides with stronger buyer demand and lower supply.
Cairns North's sales market sits at 1.8 months of supply for houses as of June 2026 — classified as Very Tight against the Australian distribution. Under 1.7 months is Severe (extreme shortage); over 4.5 months is Loose. The rental side is tighter still at 1.0 months of supply.
House prices in Cairns North moved +3.6% over the 12 months to June 2026, while units moved +10.9%. The 5-year tape above plots the full monthly trajectory — showing where the market changed character rather than just crossing round numbers.
Cairns North's house rental market sits at 1.0 months of supply as of June 2026 — classified as Severe (extreme shortage), with 46 houses leased over the past 12 months. Units sit at 0.8 months. Tighter supply typically corresponds to faster letting and upward pressure on rents.
Cairns North's house market is currently in the 'softer_firming' phase as of June 2026 — combining below-median sales velocity nationally with year-on-year tightening in days on market. The demand cycle chart above plots all eight segments on the same demand-versus-direction axes.
Cairns North's median house price ($751k) is 22% below the QLD median ($960k) as of June 2026. On selling speed, houses clear in 21 days vs 26 days state median. On gross yield, Cairns North sits at 4.20% vs 3.71% state median.
Cairns North's most-similar nearby market is Parramatta Park (2.1 km away) with a median house price of $749k — about 0% cheaper. The Nearby and Similar markets sections above rank every peer within radius and by composite similarity across price, days on market, yield, ownership cost and cycle phase.
The most-transacted segment in Cairns North over the 12 months to June 2026 is 2 bed units with 134 sales. 1 bed units come second at 52 sales. The 'Most popular' panel above breaks down the top segments with weekly mortgage, rent and ownership-cost detail.
Cairns North recorded 26 house sales and 239 unit sales over the 12 months to June 2026 — a combined 265 transactions. On the rental side, 46 houses and 302 units were leased. Segments with statistically thin samples are excluded from displayed figures.
Cairns North, QLD 4870 is home to 5,334 residents (ABS Census 2021). The median resident age is 37, and the average household holds 1.9 people. The "Who lives here" section above breaks the community down by age, life stage and tenure.
The median household in Cairns North earns $1k per week — roughly $73k a year (ABS Census 2021). Median personal income runs $873/week. Income, rent-to-income and mortgage-to-income context sits in the "Who lives here" section above.
Cairns North tilts towards renters: about 34% of households are owner-occupiers and 65% rent (ABS Census 2021). Of owners, 16% own outright and 18% are paying off a mortgage.
Cairns North has 43 schools within reach, 2 of them inside the suburb itself — including Mother of Good Counsel School, Cairns State High School. The Schools section above maps each one with sector, year range, enrolment, Micromarkets-compiled academic ratings and ICSEA (ACARA).
Cairns North, QLD 4870 has a population of 5,334, a median age of 37, a median household income around $1k/week, 65% of households renting (ABS Census 2021). There are 43 schools within reach. Whether it's the right fit depends on your priorities — these figures describe the community, housing mix and amenity rather than offer a verdict.
This Cairns North market data was last updated June 2026. Figures are computed monthly from 12-month rolling windows of recorded sales and leases, with five years of monthly history behind the trend charts. Methodology, glossary and data sources are linked in the footer.
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