THE Gold Coast’s world-renowned beaches, laid-back lifestyle and affordable housing are luring interstate residents south of the Queensland border. 

Latest realestate.com.au data shows the Glitter Strip is the most appealing interstate destination among New South Wales residents, based on almost 9 million searches in the past year. 

Most of the top 10 searches were Coast suburbs, headed by Surfers Paradise. Coolangatta, Broadbeach, Burleigh Heads, Southport, Palm Beach and Hope Island also made the list. In return, Queenslanders searched for property in NSW more than any other state (almost 4 million times), mostly just over the border.

 Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said both states were home to people whom enjoyed spending time outdoors and were interested in health and fitness. 

“I think it’s the similar lifestyles (that’s attractive) but the Gold Coast offers greater affordability,” she said.

 “We think there’s a lot of young people looking to move there."

“And it’s not just buyers, it’s also renters.” She said the city’s abundance of jobs was also appealing. “It’s one of those drivers of people searching, particularly for rentals.” 

REIQ Gold Coast zone chairmain Andrew Henderson said migration from NSW to Queensland was a “well-worn path”. “Migration has been pretty strong, it seems to be ever continuing from where I’m sitting,” he said. “There seems to be a big following of family and friends, potentially that might be adding to those really good numbers. “It’s lifestyle and also, the median house price being significantly cheaper would be a big factor in moving.

”Investors were also contributing to the figures. There’s no doubt that the Gold Coast is, to some degree, defying the slow down Sydney and Melbourne are experiencing. As a safer bet, we are now seeing a lot of those investors … come to the Gold Coast, in particular Surfers Paradise beachfront, to secure a holiday home or investment. They feel that’s a very safe investment for their money over three-to-five years. 

We are seeing an unprecedented number of interstate investors looking for luxury beachfront property in the area in the past six months with a large per cent of our recent buyers in the last six months coming from Melbourne and Sydney. Surfers Paradise and Burleigh Heads were also among the top searched suburbs in the ACT, SA, Tasmania, Victoria and WA. 

Top searches for people in NSW outside their state (suburbs, times searched) 

QLD

 — SURFERS PARADISE 90,222 QLD 
— COOLANGATTA 69,801 QLD
— BROADBEACH 66,990 QLD
— BURLEIGH HEADS 62,648 VIC
— WODONGA 61,012 QLD
— SOUTHPORT 55,285 QLD
— PALM BEACH 53,433 TAS
— LAUNCESTON 43,420 QLD
— HOPE ISLAND 39,384 VIC — WANGARATTA 38,898 

Top searches for people in QLD outside their state (suburbs, times searched) NSW
— KINGSCLIFF 83,659 NSW
— TWEED HEADS 75,085 NSW
— MURWILLUMBAH 43,098 NSW
— BANORA POINT 42,660 NSW
— TENTERFIELD 34,037 NSW
— BYRON BAY 32,313 NSW
— KYOGLE 29,597 NSW
— POTTSVILLE 29,233 TAS
— LAUNCESTON 27,883 NSW
— CASUARINA 25,475