What $500,000 Actually Buys You in 12 Queensland Towns

In the March 2026 quarter the Real Estate Institute of Queensland put the statewide median house price at $990,000, and the statewide median unit price at $817,500. Five hundred thousand dollars is now roughly half a house in this state, and it does not reach the middle of the apartment market either. That is the same money that bought a whole house almost anywhere in Queensland ten years ago. It has not got smaller. The state moved. So here is the exercise. Five hundred thousand dollars, cash, and twelve Queensland towns. Same budget every time. Twelve completely different answers, from thirty per cent of a median house to a hundred and fifty-seven per cent of one. Covered in this video: Noosa, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Cairns, Gympie, Rockhampton and Charters Towers. For each town: the median with its source and quarter, what $500,000 represents as a share of it, what that actually buys on the ground, the costs no listing mentions, the Queensland Health facility and the distance to a hospital with a full specialist range, and the specific reason the number behaves the way it does in that town. The video also covers the second payment due on settlement day that appears in no listing and no property app, what it costs an owner-occupier compared to an investor, why it hurts more in the cheap towns than the expensive ones, and the rule change from 1 August 2026 that catches people out. THE QUEENSLAND RELOCATION REPORT 2026 The full version of what you are watching. Medians, transfer duty, insurance loadings, flood exposure and hospital distances across many more towns than fit in a video, with every figure dated the same way it is dated here — plus the towns cut from this list and why. https://payhip.com/b/C7ROx SOURCES Real Estate Institute of Queensland median sales data, March 2026 quarter Cotality Home Value Index, March 2026 CoreLogic suburb data, twelve months to March and April 2026 Queensland Revenue Office transfer duty and home concession rates ACCC Insurance Monitoring Report, June 2026 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 Census Bureau of Meteorology flood records Queensland Health service listings Figures are current as at the period stated in each case. Medians, duty rates and premiums change. Confirm transfer duty with the Queensland Revenue Office or a Queensland-registered conveyancer before you set a maximum bid. This channel is not affiliated with any real estate agency, developer, council or tourism body, and does not benefit from anyone relocating. Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice. NEXT VIDEO Mount Isa: what happens to a town when the mine that built it closes.