Gold Coast Airbnb Strategy | Where to Buy Property for Maximum Rental Income

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]All right, welcome to buying Gold Coast deep dive episode today. If you're a listener all things holiday letting on the Gold Coast, it's one of the hottest asset types I'm finding on the Gold Coast. Our team at Strawman obviously secure so many properties and we're finding a real shift in holiday homes at the moment. We've got two experts in the building to break this down. We're going to go over opportunities. We're going to go over the types of properties on the Gold Coast right now that are potentially going to be the best bang for buck. We might even reveal some pocket streets, so stay tuned for that at the end and just general tips on how you can maximize your investment, but also what are the rules and basic legislation that's happening right now on the Gold Coast. So as I said, we've got two experts. We've got Talia and Halle Thanks, Talia.

[00:00:45]>> Cove. Hello. Excited to be here.

[00:00:48]>> Yeah, both both in brown. Was that planned or [laughter] It wasn't planned.

[00:00:52]Yin and yang normally.

[00:00:55]>> [laughter] >> All right, so I I think obviously Cove, you girls specialize in holiday letting on the Gold Coast, isn't it? That's the that's the core focus. Yes, Gold Coast and northern New South Wales at the moment.

[00:01:05]>> we love the northern New South Wales, too.

[00:01:07]>> Absolutely, some gorgeous places. It isn't it? So I I think where I want to start, ladies, is what have you noticed in the growth, the rapid growth? Like we've felt it as our team as a buyer's agency with people wanting to do the holiday letting things. Keen to hear from your perspective as people in this space day-to-day. Was there a point where it's like, "Hey, there's all of a sudden more people wanting to do holiday homes?" Or have you seen the trend increase, decrease? Just curious on what you guys are seeing out there from holiday homes. We've actually seen an increase in probably more the high net wealth earners. They are from like Sydney, Melbourne coming up from there looking for their own holiday home and in that way when they're not here, we're able to manage that for them. So we've seen a big trend in more of those buildings that are coming up in your Palm Beach area and things like that where there's two per floor, the sub penthouses. They're performing really well and they're just doing so well with owners like that. And what And what I will say on that as well is there is a huge trend in people wanting to be in the holiday market. They see the return.

[00:02:08]They see it as a great investment opportunity, but often times they only last a couple of months. So realistically while people are buying in and wanting that holiday investment property, they don't last the full gauntlet that it takes to actually generate the returns worthy of having that investment. So there are it's often up and down up and down and a lot of people will buy into it, but there's only a small amount that's very successful within It's a high risk high reward investment strategy. So it takes a lot to build a listing and make it credible and make it perform like what you see and what they're buying into in the first place.

[00:02:44]And it's the this is the term I guess I'll use it. So more like your your lock up and leave. You're seeing a lot of like lock up and leave buyers where they'll buy it for use and then they'll might throw it in the short term for a bit and then use it with the family and then Is that kind of Yeah, I'd say like some owners are purchasing these properties and probably visiting twice a year, two weeks at a time if that.

[00:03:04]Sometimes they get their family and friends coming in to stay, but majority of the time it is vacant and sitting there vacant. So that's where we come in.

[00:03:13]This episode of buying Gold Coast is brought to you by the amazing team at Your Town Price Homes. In the show notes below, you'll see a link to their upcoming draw right here on the Gold Coast in Carrara. For as little as $15, you could own a slice of the Gold Coast.

[00:03:31]And did you know every 90 seconds a child reaches out to Kids Helpline in need. So by buying a ticket, you could not only change your life, but you could potentially change the lives of others.

[00:03:42][music] And what are you finding the on the Gold Coast? Let's go Gold Coast specific, ladies, and northern New South Wales cuz I I love that pocket, too. Where do you think the most growth in these types of assets has been? If we could go a bit micro, maybe pockets or locations that you're seeing a lot of these people buy?

[00:04:00]I will say on the holiday side, the growth is more in a high performing property rather than where there are a lot of properties. So you'll see Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise highly saturated. So huge growth purchase wise in that area, but as a holiday investment, not big growth at all. To stand out in those markets, you need to be having penthouses or sub penthouses to be able to compete, but the two bedrooms don't perform well in those high density zones.

[00:04:25]>> Because of the the supply.

[00:04:26]>> Yes, so it's actually stepping away from the trends have a solid investment. So places like Burleigh, they're doing really well cuz it's not thousands of buildings everywhere with thousands of rooms available.

[00:04:38]>> But tourists are finding that it's a little bit old Gold Coast vibe, so they're really loving the Burleigh vibe.

[00:04:43]So that's where the tourists are kind of seeing these places and flocking to. So Burleigh Heads is probably one of our top performers followed by Palm Beach is an up and coming one, too. Interesting. So it's And it's a good point around like anything good investment wise, right?

[00:04:58]Like it's that whole supply versus demand. Like I I love what you said around Broadbeach and Surfers like in the holiday in this today's episode is all holiday letting, by the way. So if we're if we're segmenting holiday letting like you're right, yeah. If you think of how many dwellings are in the short term rental market up there, you're very saturated. So that's a really good point. So it's nearly for the listener then capitalizing on hey, where are some of these tourist destinations, but also not oversaturated with all of these holiday rentals. Would that be fair to say, yeah?

[00:05:29]>> Where is the tourism offering trending without a huge allocation of actual holiday homes?

[00:05:37]What about for the listener? Let's Let's talk potential future. Like we said like Burleigh, Palmy are kind of right now.

[00:05:43]Is there any pockets where you ladies are like, "Man, this as a holiday home destination is going to start popping into the future?" We're getting closer to the Tweed area. We don't have managed many in that area at the moment, but now that we've exposed ourselves into that area, we're seeing it quite a good location. There is still quite an oversupply, but it's also doing really, really well. So I think there's a lot of future coming to that area and the beaches are amazing and as a tourist destination, it pulls a lot of people to that area. And is this more your Coolangatta like that sort of yeah?

[00:06:16]Coolangatta through to Kirra around in that little sort of pocket there does really well. And I think as well because you've got the big vast beaches, you've got the little pockets of beaches, so you sort of get the best of both worlds.

[00:06:28]It's established, but it's still beach town those vibes that people crave when they come here. Not far from Burleigh and all of that and also not far to Byron and bit further up as well. And I think the big thing I'm just thinking about it now, there's a lot of gentrification in terms of amenities. So like cuz I know cuz I use Airbnb and short term all the time when I travel. I look for yeah, the location, but then it's like, "Hey, if I want to go for dinner, can I walk there?"

[00:06:54]>> Yeah, can I walk I'm not I don't want to be catching an Uber or something too far. So that makes sense because Tweed and Coolangatta around there, there's so many new restaurants. There's a bit of a scene coming on there. So that's interesting. What are What are you finding then in terms of All right, let's go magnified on the actual type of dwelling. Like what are you seeing performing well? Yeah. That's the most important thing I will say. Locations are there, of course, but when it comes to the actual offering, you want a three bedroom property, you're increasing your booking pool, more people can stay, less people can stay. So you've got three to six guests, two bathrooms, parking and amenities like a pool. If they've got a sauna, huge bonus. Things like that.

[00:07:35]It's not necessarily having to be the most modern listing if you furnish it well. So you can buy something that's in a bit of an older building, family friendly, and if you furnish that really well and standing out in the market, you'll have a stellar listing on your hands as well. Interesting. Here's a question. What would you say holds more value? Would you say it's the bedroom, so maybe going from a two to three or a one or a two to going to a three, or is it the condition of it for the property?

[00:08:02]Let's put it this way, we don't represent one or two bedroom properties, really.

[00:08:06]Interesting. If we represent a two bedroom property, the lounge room will have to be big enough to have a pullout couch so that you can be competitive with three bedroom properties at a cheaper price point.

[00:08:18]Interesting. So you're finding most of the people who are paying top dollar are traveling as like like families or groups or It's more about the people who are going towards hotels or they're going towards holiday home accommodation. So that's the difference there. So we're trying to increase our pool of people who can stay, so families can actually stay together rather than getting individual rooms in a hotel because sometimes when you're around when you're definitely a one bedroom holiday home, it's hard to stand out with hotels and considering also what they provide with the daily turnovers and things like that as well. So that's the differentiating part.

[00:08:54]And a huge hot topic on what you just said there, you said the top dollar paying guests. So that's also a really big thing that we're finding with people who are purchasing properties and coming into this investment strategy, they believe the thing that's going to bring them the most revenue is the highest nightly base rate that they can possibly have. Whereas say you have your base rate at $550, but then you just tap that down $50 per night to 500, your booking capacity increases from say 40% to 50% and that $50 decrease actually sees you $15 to $20,000 more earned over the course of a year. So occupancy, sorry, that didn't make sense, but occupancy is the driving force behind revenue rather than a higher price point.

[00:09:41]>> price, yeah. That's a really good tip, actually. So I guess at the end of the day, it's a business, isn't it?

[00:09:48]That's what I try to tell everyone if they're going down the holiday home route is like it's a business. Like you got to kind of treat it like a business.

[00:09:55]There's a P&L. There's seasons, there's high seasons, low seasons. So, you need to be a >> a launch phase as well. So, one of the one of the Yeah, one of the biggest things is people kind of expect returns from listing launch and live, and that is not at all how it works. You are launching a business, so you need to build credibility. You need to have guests staying in your property, leaving reviews. You need to have repeat guests coming back. So, year on year is sort of where you start to see that high returns for your asset. Interesting. How much weight do you put on social proof, reviews, and that kind of thing?

[00:10:28]>> Absolutely everything goes into that.

[00:10:30]Massive. So, I'll put my analogy hat on like I always do with clients.

[00:10:34]I'm a I'm a walking analogy.

[00:10:37]So, this is how I say because when we discuss holiday homes, it's such a niche market. I feel like it's quite hard to comprehend. So, I often say it's like opening a coffee cart and deciding to use instant granules to build revenue and reputation until you can afford to buy the wizbang Arabica beans, which unfortunately the first sip is what builds your reputation. Whereas the cart next to you that started with the Arabica coffee beans has a higher cost, is building their database faster, and has a really great reputation. So, that's where we go, stop trying to generate money to then give yourself an uplift and have a good offering.

[00:11:13]Recouping the costs with a solid listing is so much easier than starting with a lower tier listing, trying to generate income, and then making that uplift.

[00:11:23]>> Putting your best foot forward is is always the best is always the best option in the beginning. Yeah.

[00:11:30]If you look then again at that coffee cart analogy, if you've got the three coffee carts now, the instant granule coffee cart, and then the premium blend coffee cart, instant's at $2, premium blend blend is at $9, then you've got your coffee cart, which is the premium blend, but you're at $5. So, that's the launch strategy. So, for the first year you're going to be at $5.

[00:11:52]Everyone's going to jump ship from both of those cuz they'd be silly not to, and yours is going to have the one that people go, make sure you go to the middle coffee cart. Huge reputation, they see the value in your offering, you're getting great reviews, everyone loves your coffee cart. So, come next year, you can put your prices up to the premium cart next to you, but you're the one with the line, you're the one with the reviews, and they keep coming back.

[00:12:13]So, that's where that premium Yes, you've got a premium offering, but if you want to generate the right business model to start with, you've got to go through this strategic launch phase, where your competitive, moving through with the base price as your main thing and occupancy, and then establishing yourself after that first year. I love that. That's unreal. So, it's the key takeaway there for buyers is really to succeed in this this whole space, I guess, at the end of the day.

[00:12:41]It's not It's not winning it on being the cheapest. It's more so having the the best quality, I guess, asset first. So, yes, location combining location with Hey, if you can get sneak into the three-bedroom, you will see that, you know, be around the amenities, all that.

[00:13:00]Furnishing to try and attract, you know, cuz photos obviously And people are going on holidays, which is a big emotional decision. They're looking at these things going, oh, would I like to stay here as a holiday from my regular home at home. So, it does need to be an elevated experience for for the guests.

[00:13:16]Yeah. And and that's holds way more weight than trying to All right, launch phase, I'm just going to try and be the cheapest and just trying to cut corners to try and get revenue going, but it sounds like this to win in this game, it's a bit of a like any business, a bit more of a medium-to-long-term mindset of like, hey, let's build this properly. Let's try and create the experience first, get the reviews of quality reviews, and then kind of build, and then we can maybe look at like playing around with the rates and And then each year you start to see your rewards. So, in the beginning to set up a holiday home, it is quite a big expense up front cuz you do have to go through that period of the slowness until you build that credibility. Plus, on top of that you have to furnish the property if it didn't come furnished already. So, it's definitely the high-risk, high-reward investment strategy, where you need to go through that startup business phase to get to your wild returns of way above and beyond long-term renting, which is why people do it. Love it. That's so good. Ladies, I I could talk all day on this. We might have to get you on another one.

[00:14:15][laughter] But, I'm keen to finish on this. Give me each one of you your your three biggest tips to listen to right now. If they're thinking of going down the holiday home route, um what would be your three biggest overarching tips you could give to that buyer right now? Three of each.

[00:14:33]Three each. Okay. I think one for me is definitely have a buffer in place in the beginning to go through those hard seasons when you're launching your listing. My first one would be look for a listing where you can max maximize guest capacity. So, even if it is a two-bedroom place, if it's one of the older builds, make it a big, spacious one, one that has two bathrooms so that can facilitate six guests. Things like that. Look to maximize guest capacity with your listing.

[00:14:59]Number two for me would be to dive into areas that are outside of the high-density zoning. Obviously, the council likes to push those areas, um but the better rewards are outside of that. Mhm, that's a That's a juicy tip.

[00:15:13]Like that. Furnish your space so it stands out within the market. If you scroll Airbnb, you're going to see 100 light blue, navy, and cream coastal offerings. Do something crazy. Have the the pink dusty basin, have the the cool huge artwork on the wall. Make it stand out from the beginning, not down the line.

[00:15:33]That's a huge onus in this. Like the You've got to capture this like attention, isn't it? You've got to Absolutely. It's like a selling agent will, you know, you take the photos, they've got to sell it. Obviously, there's a lot of people, but to one buyer. We've got to sell it to like 300 buyers. Yeah. Love that. One more each.

[00:15:48]Third for me would be, if you're going to give it a go, definitely commit to a full year. You're definitely not going to see see results in the first three to six months, so you need to commit to it when you decide to do it. And it's also a big cost up front, so committing to it is super important for that success.

[00:16:05]Like any business.

[00:16:06]And my main one, relax. Enjoy it.

[00:16:10]You're going to have people come through. Stop only focusing on the negative that comes with the positive.

[00:16:15]Enjoy the positive more. Oh gosh, I've got a lot of foot traffic coming through, there's a bit of wear and tear.

[00:16:20]No, you've got a lot of foot traffic.

[00:16:22]You've got a great listing.

[00:16:23]Take a step back. Oh, there was a mark on my couch. There was a mark on your couch because you had 10 different groups come through and spend a good amount of money on your investment. So, I think just relax, enjoy the process, have fun. It's an awesome path to go down. We love when we get great clients on, and they move past the little nitty-gritty phase at the start, and they start to enjoy it as well.

[00:16:46]I love it. It's It's like any business, right, at the end of the day. It's um Yeah, if you're expecting roses day one, it's like I I What I've loved most of all in this chat, ladies, not only the specifics of the tips, but it's also some perspective shifts, I think. There was probably three or four where I was like, even for myself, like, oh, bang, that that makes complete sense. So, um if anyone is looking for holiday rentals on the Gold Coast right now, obviously, the acquisition side is key, and then obviously the management side is key, too. So, if someone's looking for management side of things, where can people find you, ladies, at?

[00:17:19]Khove, k h o v e. With a h?

[00:17:21]>> Yeah, with a h. I had to put myself into it somewhere.

[00:17:24]>> [laughter] >> I love it. A new office, too, ladies?

[00:17:29]Yep, new office.

[00:17:30]>> Where can they tap on your window and annoy you? You can see our blaring name in lights on the corner of Mark Kerry and Gold Coast Highway. Ah, smack bang in in the Gold Coast.

[00:17:39]We wanted people sitting at those lights staring at us >> [laughter] >> We we enhance the view.

[00:17:46]I love it. Well, if anyone's listening in their car to this episode, they might be [laughter] driving past.

[00:17:50]>> [gasps] >> How good's that? I hope so. Come on in.

[00:17:52]Yeah, I appreciate your wisdom of advice, ladies. It was absolutely unreal, and I can't wait to do another episode soon. Thanks for having us.

[00:17:59]Loved it. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you.