Once thought of as a retirement destination, the Tweed Coast’s northern suburbs are getting a revamp with new apartment projects, townhouses and attractive house and land packages. The oceanfront suburbs of Casuarina, Kingscliff and Tweed Heads join up with the southern end of the Gold Coast and offer a coastal lifestyle while still being within reach of Brisbane.
Ok, we know, they aren’t quite in Queensland. But the Tweed Coast’s northern suburbs, just over the border in New South Wales, are going through some serious changes and offer some great opportunities for Queensland buyers.
The Tweed Shire Council estimates that the population of the area will increase by 38 percent in the next two decades and have a total population of 126,000 by 2036. Attracting young couples and families, the suburbs are slowly filling with quirky cafes, fine dining restaurants and high-end boutique shops. The area is ideal for people who love the ocean and want a beach lifestyle while still being close enough to a city to commute to work. Less built up than their northern Gold Coast counterparts, each suburb is developing its own personality as the population pushes out from Queensland.
One of the benefits of this location is being less than 20 minutes from the Gold Coast Airport. Already the sixth busiest airport in Australia, the government predict that by 2037 there will be an extra ten million people per year travelling through the Gold Coast; bringing the total to over 16 million passengers per year.
With talk of South-East Queensland making a bid for the 2032 Olympics, the area could see some serious infrastructure investment in the lead up to the event. With direct access to the M1 these suburbs are a one-hour-and-twenty-minute drive from Brisbane, a forty-minute drive from Southport, and only thirty minutes from Varsity Lakes. Public transport on the Tweed Coast is currently limited to local buses. However, the bus line from Tweed runs all the way up to Broadbeach to connect with the Gold Coast’s Light Rail network.
There has been talk for a while now of extending the railway to the Gold Coast Airport, and with all the development happening there, it can only be a matter of time before the project gets approval. The train line would ease congestion and make it much easier for residents on the Tweed Coast to commute to work on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane.
These suburbs appeal to people looking for houses and small apartment complexes rather than large developments in nearby Coolangatta, Palm Beach and Burleigh Heads. Once known only for the Twin Towns RSL and its ageing population of retirees, Tweed Heads is reinventing itself and is definitely a suburb on our watch list.
With the Gold Coast expanding rapidly and young families searching for more space, the average age of the population is decreasing. Currently, the Tweed Heads median age is 56, Kingscliff is 46, and Casuarina is 36.
Kingscliff has a small town vibe with restaurants, cafes and boutique shops along the main street which looks out onto the beach – if it is ocean views you want an apartment in Kingscliff is your best bet. Cudgen Creek at the end of the beach road is known for its excellent surfing conditions to the left of the headland and is popular with kayakers and paddleboarders in the summer.
Casuarina, a brand new suburb, is not as developed as Kingscliff and doesn’t quite have the same central street and village feel to it. There are quite a few plots of land still for sale so it is safe to say that once the suburb has had time to grow we should expect great things. In the meantime, Kingscliff and Cabarita Beach are just a short cycle, drive or bus ride away.
Tweed Heads is much more developed than its southerly neighbours. It has a large industrial area and Tweed City Shopping Mall in the southern end of the suburb as well as the smaller Tweed Mall located right next to the Queensland border. A large part of Tweed Heads offers waterside living with the Tweed River and Terranora Creek running through it. If you are in the northern end of Tweed Heads you have easy access to some of Queensland’s best surfing beaches, plus the cafes, restaurants and nightlife of Coolangatta.
Most properties on offer in these suburbs are houses with only 22 percent apartments in Kingscliff, 17 percent in Casuarina and 39 percent in Tweed Heads.
There are lots of schools to choose from on the Tweed Coast; including Tweed Heads Public School, Tweed River Highschool, Kingscliff Public School, Kingscliff High School, and a selection of independent and Catholic schools as well. In terms of higher education, the Southern Cross University Gold Coast Campus and the Coolangatta Tafe are both nearby.
The success of land developments in Casuarina and Cabarita has meant the government has approved plans for new projects in Kings Forest, Cobaki Lakes and Fraser Cove. The Fraser Cove development in Tweed Heads South is already underway, while the Kings Forest Development is approved for 4,500 dwellings and the Cobaki Lakes Development has approval for 5,500 dwellings which includes houses, townhouses and apartments.
The suburbs are growing all the time with new apartment complexes being approved and replacing older style Queenslanders and lowset homes on the Tweed Heads peninsular. With next door neighbour Coolangatta’s large multistorey developments, it is thought that the Tweed Shire council will start to allow larger apartment complexes in Tweed Heads as well.
The Tweed Heads hospital is a major employer in this area, which will only increase with the plan to expand and relocate the Tweed Heads Hospital to Kingscliff in a $534 million project.
Median apartment price
Tweed Heads $442,000
Kingscliff $500,000
Casuarina $470,000
Median house price
Tweed Heads $696,000
Kingscliff $865,000
Casuarina $970,000
Median apartment rental value
Tweed Heads $380 per week
Kingscliff $440 per week
Casuarina $450 per week
Median house rental value
Tweed Heads $495 per week
Kingscliff $650 per week
Casuarina $760 per week
Transport
Gold Coast International Airport, access to M1 motorway and local bus routes
Things we love…
But remember that…
KINGSCLIFF FIVE – 0 APARTMENTS
48-50 Kingscliff Street, Kingscliff
14 two and three-bedroom apartments from $585,000.
DUNE APARTMENTS
98 Marine Parade, Kingscliff
16 one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments.
THE DUNES SUBDIVISION
Kingscliff 49 plots of land 450m2 and 850m2.
AYANA 24 McGregor Crescent, Tweed Heads
13 two-bedroom apartments from $550,000.
EVOLVE ON ENID
36-40 Enid Street, Tweed Heads
52 one and two-bedroom apartments from $340,000.
FRASER COVE
Tweed Heads South
83 plots of land 450m2 – 1,238m2 and 45 two and three-bedroom villas from $385,000.
ALTITUDE ASPIRE SUBDIVISION
Terranora
250 plots of land 511m2 – 1017m2 from $340,000.
CASUARINA BEACH
Casuarina
House and land packages available from $998,999.