Four regional Qld towns hit sales top 10 as cash rate reaches 4.6%

Four regional towns now sit in Queensland’s top 10 for house sales, and the cash rate has reached 4.6 per cent. For project marketers and builders, the buyer pool is being priced out of Brisbane’s established suburbs, not out of the market.

InfoTrack, a property technology firm, analysed Queensland sales from 1 July to 30 September 2026. Kirwan in Townsville ranked third, Maryborough fifth, Gracemere seventh and Emerald eighth, according to InfoTrack’s release of 14 October. Realestate.com.au also reported the figures on 14 October.

Why it matters

The ranking is by sales volume, not price growth. It shows where contracts are being signed, and the regional entries are well below the state median.

InfoTrack puts the Queensland median house price at $890,000. Maryborough sits at $565,000, Emerald at $570,000, Kirwan at $665,000 and Gracemere at $720,000. Each is a house-and-land price point, which is the product that suffers most when borrowing power shrinks.

The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 4.6 per cent at the end of September, its fourth increase this year, per the same release. Our own market-data record carries the same 4.60 per cent figure.

For South East Queensland developers, the signal is mixed. Brisbane’s outer growth corridors still took five of the top 10 house markets: Morayfield, Caboolture, Redbank Plains, Springfield Lakes and Pimpama. Those are the corridors where entry prices are lowest, and they are holding volume.

The squeeze falls hardest on inner and middle-ring product. Buyers who can no longer stretch to those prices are either moving to the fringe or leaving the south-east.

The numbers

Houses made up 59.66 per cent of all Queensland sales in the third quarter. Units held 24.75 per cent and vacant land 15.59 per cent.

On the regional side, InfoTrack noted that Kirwan last appeared in the top 10 in the last quarter of 2025. Maryborough climbed from sixth in the second quarter. Emerald returned to the rankings for the first time in two years.

The release ties the demand to local employment and supply. Townsville has added almost 12,000 residents in five years and approved more than 1,200 new residential lots in the past financial year. Emerald’s $314 million Ensham Mine extension has secured more than 700 jobs and extended the mine’s life by nine years.

InfoTrack chief operating officer Lee Bailie said: “Lower prices are part of the appeal, but population growth, employment and new investment are also creating demand in their own right.”

The unit market is a different story. Realestate.com.au reported that the Gold Coast took seven of the top 10 unit markets by sales. That list includes Surfers Paradise, Southport and Varsity Lakes, where Homecorp’s 289-apartment Cienna Varsity Ridge was cited by Bailie as a draw. Maroochydore rose from ninth to fifth for units on the back of the Maroochydore City Centre.

What’s next

Another rate rise would extend the pressure on borrowing power. Developers selling off the plan in Brisbane’s inner and middle rings should expect longer sales campaigns and more price-sensitive buyers.

Fringe house-and-land and lower-priced apartment stock on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast is where InfoTrack’s data shows volume. Builders in Townsville, the Fraser Coast and Central Queensland may see steadier enquiry, backed by local jobs.

InfoTrack’s data measures sales counts only. It does not show whether regional prices are rising, so the next quarterly update is the test of whether these towns hold their place. See our wider coverage in Queensland markets.