Up $89k: Townsville defies triple rate hikes with 17pc surge

Aerial view of the Queensland Country Bank stadium and Townsville’s CBD. Picture: View of Townsville’s CBD skyline from Central Park. Picture: Mark Fitz.

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Townsville home prices surged about 17pc in 12 months – adding $89k to the median – and kept growing in May despite three consecutive rate hikes, with units up a shocking 25pc.

The PropTrack Home Price Index for May 2026 shows Townsville’s all-dwellings median at $638k – with houses up 15.23 per cent adding $85k, and units surging 25.17 per cent, adding $106k in a single year.

RELATED: Up $145k: Gold Coast to overtake Sydney within a year

PropTrack senior economist Angus Moore

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PropTrack Senior Economist Angus Moore said “prices were still up 0.6 per cent in May, which, particularly relative to what we’ve been seeing in a lot of the rest of the country, is quite strong – and up 17 per cent in the past year. It’s solid.”

At $638k, Townsville is the most affordable major city in Queensland – close to half of Brisbane’s $1.08m median and well under the Gold Coast’s $1.45m house price.

Mr Moore said that affordability gap was precisely what was sustaining demand despite rising rates.

“That story of more affordable segments holding up in the face of rates applies here. It’s still on a growth track,” he said.

“The fact that it’s still up 0.6 per cent in May, despite three consecutive rate hikes, suggests there’s still plenty of demand supporting prices there – albeit a little bit slower than what we had been seeing last year.”

Mr Moore said “people are looking for those more affordable areas and that’s holding prices up there. That’s not just true in capital cities versus regional areas – it’s true even within cities”.

Buyers are on the hunt for affordable property as prices escalate across capitals.

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Townsville’s performance sits within a regional Queensland market that has surged 81.9 per cent over five years, and doubled since 2020, partly off the mining economy driving demand across the state’s regional centres.

“The fact that the mining economy has been quite strong has been an important part of housing demand in regional WA, and to some extent in regional SA as well, and even regional Queensland.”

PropTrack expects on more rate hike this year which should soften demand ahead, but with prices still well below the southeast Queensland capitals and underlying demand strong, any Townsville slowdown is expected to be modest.

“Price declines are unlikely to be large as the labour market remains resilient, households have strong equity buffers – limiting forced sales – and high construction costs and supply constraints are limiting the volume of new homes.”