Urban's top four most popular suburbs on Gold Coast for first home buyers in 2023

The cost of Gold Coast off the plan apartments has soared in recent years, ruling out what you'd call a "typical first home buyer".

Entry level apartments now seem to be around the $700,000 mark, depending on location, but some agents are reporting average one-bedroom apartment sales in the $900,000.

There are still however opportunities for first home buyers to grab a slice of the Gold Coast lifestyle, albeit they need to act fast as the more affordable apartments tend to be the first to go.

We've looked at the top four most enquired on suburbs on the Gold Coast on Urban.com.au in 2023, and their best projects.

Surfers Paradise

The hub of the Gold Coast continues to be an attractive proposition for first home buyers.

Known as the epicentre of the tourist mecca, Surfers Paradise has everything from retail to the beach. 

First home buyers have grabbed some of the one-bedroom apartments in Vista, the 51-level sustainable skyscraper by MRCB.

Urban Activation Sales Director Matt George said there's were around 140 sales in the Vista Street building in 2023, with both prices and enquiry rising from 2022 levels. One-bedroom apartments had started from $600,000 on launch.

One street back from the sought-after Northcliffe Beach, 26 Vista will have 280 apartments and six three-storey townhouses that front Northcliffe Light Rail Station.

DBI's design incorporates an internal wellbeing precinct featuring a spa, gym, outdoor yoga space, pool, sauna and steam room and a residents lounge.

26 Vista is slated for completion in 2026.

In the early stages of its marketing, Florian, the riverside development by Pacfico Investments, had attracted first home buyers. 

Diversified developer Gallery Group has two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments under $1 million at their Surf Parade project Chalk. 

Chalk will comprise just over 70 apartments designed by Raunik Design.

There's residential amenity in the shape of a swimming pool and gym on level two, as well as a rooftop with barbecues and alfresco areas.

Broadbeach

Quietly located next door to Surfers Paradise but very much with its own quiet community, Broadbeach is on everyone's wishlist.

First home buyers have to act quick nowadays however if they're going to buy into what's becoming an exclusive suburb. Developers of high-rise towers tend to favour two and three-bedroom apartments, those of which are usually out of reach for the typical first home buyer, with prices for two-bedrooms more often than not over around $850,000 at the lower range.

Most developers only include a handful of one-bedroom apartments, so opportunities are limited.

One of the most popular projects in Urban this year was Iris Capital's landmark Victoria & Albert development. All of the one-bedroom apartments in V&A have been snapped up, the majority of those by first home buyers or investors.

Over 50 per cent of the 400 or so apartments have sold.

V&A features a 25-metre lap pool, spa, steam room, Zen garden, yoga deck, resident's lounge, and a kids' club area with a playground surrounded by sub-tropical gardens.

The project's popularity is enhanced by a $200 million commercial retail and fresh food precinct underneath, drawing buyers from Melbourne and Sydney.

There were apartments in The Rochester which caught the eye of first home buyers earlier in the year before the entry-level apartments sold out.

There's been a healthy amount of first home buyers looking at the apartments in Morris Property's recently launched Crest Broadbeach. 

The Armrick Avenue building has two-bedroom apartments available for just under $900,000. The priciest two-beds are just over $1.3 million.

Residents at Crest Broadbeach will have access to a number of amenities including a top of the building’s podium on level two. Wrapped with terraces with seating and dining areas, the amenity level features a pool, gym, lounge space and a communal barbecue area.

Southport

Positioned as a central hub within the Gold Coast, Southport has become a focal point for first-home buyers. The suburb's growth trajectory is fuelled by commercial development and residential expansion. 

One of Gold Coast's most popular projects on Urban in the last quarter of 2023 is the recently launched Eden Garden Residences in Southport.

That have two-bedroom apartments ranging between $760,000 and $870,000.

The eight-level, 54-apartment building designed by BDA Architecture is ideally located between the Nerang River and Southport's shopping hub.

Read more: Walking distance to everything: Southport's Eden Garden Residences take in nature and shopping

Eden Garden Residences is expected to be completed in late 2025.

There was also popularity for first home buyers at the completed La Isla Broadwater project by Draycon.

Chevron Island

Chevron Island is giving buyers everything they could ask for, with a level of affordability to match.

Due to it not being beachside but riverside, prices are considerably lower than the likes of Broadbeach and other beachfront suburbs, albeit Chevron Island is just a five-minute walk to the sand, depending on which side of the island you live.

A third of the enquiry at Aniko Group's Orama apartment development were first home buyers. They were snapping up apartments which had started from $795,000.

Brent Thompson's Siera were a little further along in their marketing campaign for Tapestry, which saw most apartments which might suit a first home buyer shift quickly in 2022.

2023 has been the year of the local and interstate owner-occupier at Tapestry, Siera's debut Gold Coast apartment development after years of developing townhouses in Brisbane's inner-ring.

The project is pitched as where art meets architecture, with the brief for BDA to create an art-inspired building. Siera has even had local artist Tania Blanchard create a piece which will be hung proudly in the lobby upon its 2025 completion.

The 113-apartment building has one of the most impressive rooftop terrace amenity levels on the Gold Coast.

The 22nd level features more than 700 sqm of separate recreation zones including a private dining space and kitchen, lounge and fire pit, yoga lawn, swimming pool, spa and sundeck, barbecue and alfresco area, gym, sauna, steam room, and lounge area separated by extensive landscaping.

Chevron One, the skyscraper by Melbourne-based developer Bensons has a handful of one and two-bedrooms left in what will be the tallest tower Chevron Island will likely ever see.