Australia's 2026 federal budget changed the landscape for residential property investors. Negative gearing eligibility for existing property purchases will be restricted from July 2027, shifting the calculus for investors who have historically relied on NG-supported cashflow. The markets below have screened as cashflow-positive or near-positive at current yield levels, making them structurally more resilient to the policy change. Near-positive markets are typically within 12–18 months of tipping to positive cashflow as rent growth continues. This is a research filter, not a recommendation. Cashflow estimates assume standard LVR and interest rate assumptions and exclude property management, maintenance, and vacancy costs.
Data vintage: Q1 2025 (indicative). Manually compiled from public sources. Verify independently. Not financial advice.
19 suburbs · Cashflow classification based on indicative 80% LVR / 6.5% interest estimates. Research only. Not financial advice.
6.5% gross yield at $385k equals strongly positive cashflow without needing negative gearing. Keppel's $10B AI data centre (Australia's largest announced) remains almost entirely unpriced in local property. Construction worker accommodation demand alone will tighten vacancy before residents follow. Budget policy renders negative gearing irrelevant here.
Three LNG trains, a dedicated hydrogen export strategy, and a port that handles 100+ million tonnes per year. Yield at 6.1% is cashflow positive. Rent growth +7.5% is second-strongest in the scan. Hydrogen projects add option value on an already-sound investment thesis.
Tightest vacancy in the scan at 0.7% (effectively full). 6.1% yield at $390k is genuinely positive cashflow. Emerald sits at the intersection of coking coal and agriculture, giving it more diversification than a pure mining town. Discovery status 'Unknown': no institutional attention yet.
6.0% yield is cashflow positive. Mackay is the service hub for Australia's most productive coking coal basin. FIFO workers create reliable accommodation demand. Vacancy at 0.8% is very tight. $590/wk rent on $515k price sits well in positive cashflow territory.
6.7% yield at $235k, the highest yield-to-price ratio in the scan. The Far West NSW REZ (2.3GW) is creating permanent construction and operational jobs in a town that was in structural decline. Cashflow positive by $3,380/year. Discovery status 'Unknown': no institutional awareness of the REZ catalyst yet.
5.7% yield is cashflow positive. Rocky is one of QLD's largest regional cities with genuine economic diversification: military, agriculture, government services, and retail. Rail upgrade and beef industry investment support medium-term employment stability.
5.7% yield is cashflow-positive at 6.5% rate and improves as rent grows at +5.5%pa. Keppel data centre catalyst is literally next door: Morwell is the primary accommodation suburb for the construction workforce. New build lots available at <$420k all-in, still NG-eligible under budget rules.
6.4% yield on a 30,000-population regional city with Australia's largest open-cut gold mine as anchor employer. Gold price at USD 2,300+/oz makes operations deeply profitable and workforce stable. Rent growth +7.0% outpacing price growth +8.0%. Liquidity is better than typical regional at this price point.
Vacancy at 0.5% is crisis-level tight. GFG Alliance DRI steelworks ($750M committed) is adding 700+ permanent jobs to a town of 21,500: an enormous relative impact. Price has already moved +12% in 12 months but yield still sits at 6.2%. Supply is constrained by geography. Positive cashflow without NG.
$650/wk rent at $490k is one of the best risk-adjusted yield profiles in Australia for a town with genuine long-term employment. Woodside's Pluto LNG trains are 30+ year assets. Cashflow positive by $8,320/yr pre-cost. High income residents make for reliable tenants.
5.6% yield at $445k is cashflow positive. Burnie is a port city with difficult topography limiting new housing supply, and SQM vacancy at 1.3% is declining. Renewable energy projects coming online 2025–2026 will require worker accommodation. Price growth subdued (+4%) makes entry relatively low risk.
8.5% yield, the highest in the scan. $520/wk rent on $320k generates $10,400/yr positive pre-cost cashflow at 80% LVR. Glencore's George Fisher mine extension commits production through mid-2030s. Copper demand in EV/renewable transition provides medium-term mine life visibility.
5.0% yield on Australia's largest inland city (175,000). Inland Rail makes Toowoomba a permanent logistics node: structural demand, not cyclical. Wellcamp Airport's freight capacity is genuinely unique. Vacancy at 1.0% is tight for a city this size.
5.6% yield at $272k (the lowest absolute entry price in the scan) is cashflow positive. Nyrstar's $500M smelter upgrade secures permanent employment. Discovery status 'Unknown' means no institutional competition. Price growth +8.0% already reflecting some catch-up but starting from very low base.
5.0% yield sits just inside cashflow-negative territory but rent growth at +5%pa tips it positive within 2 years. UTAS CBD relocation is a genuine structural demand shift: 10,000+ students moving to walkable CBD precinct. Strong liquidity for a regional city (68,000 population).
6.3% yield at $490k is clearly cashflow positive. The dominant employer (Pine Gap) is a permanent US-Australian defense facility on a 70+ year lease, making it arguably the most recession-proof employment base in the scan. Federal housing investment is improving stock quality.
5.0% yield on a 64,000-population city with Australia's largest tomato processing facility and a $400M hospital rebuild underway. The Food Valley precinct is creating permanent food-tech employment. Rent growth +5.0% will push to cashflow-positive within 18 months.
5.1% yield at the crossroads of three states. Mildura benefits from genuine cross-border rental demand that tightens vacancy independent of any single industry. Hospital expansion creates permanent healthcare employment. Rent growth +5.0% will push to cashflow-positive within 12 months.
6.0% yield and strongly positive cashflow despite 2.8% vacancy. Palmerston is the residential suburb for Robertson Barracks, Australia's largest Army base. ADF personnel rotations are the primary vacancy driver, not economic weakness. As ADF housing policy shifts toward private market, structural demand increases.
Markets that screen cashflow-positive or near-positive in this dataset typically share three characteristics: gross yields at or above 5.5%, vacancy rates below 1.5%, and entry prices that keep interest cost burdens manageable at standard borrowing levels. Many are regional markets where the combination of lower median prices and strong rental demand creates genuine income-generating potential without requiring tax-offset support. Under the new policy environment, these markets carry lower exposure to the July 2027 negative gearing restrictions on existing property purchases. Investors holding cashflow-positive properties are less dependent on tax refunds to sustain holding costs, which improves cashflow resilience across rate cycles and reduces the urgency of exit decisions in softer markets.
Research transparency: SuburbScanner uses a proprietary multi-factor model to rank markets by investor-relevant signals. Read the full methodology →
Cashflow estimates are indicative, assuming 80% LVR at current market interest rates. Actual cashflow depends on your specific borrowing rate, LVR, and lender terms.
Near-positive markets depend on rent growth continuing at current trajectory to reach positive cashflow. A slowdown in rent growth or increase in rates extends the timeline.
Policy-adjusted cashflow assumes holding existing property through the grace window. Verify current ATO position and your specific ownership structure with a tax adviser.
Gross cashflow does not include property management fees, maintenance, council rates, insurance, or vacancy periods — all of which can erode a near-positive position.
Always consult a registered tax adviser before making decisions based on negative gearing assumptions or cashflow projections.
Free calculators to apply research signals to specific properties.
Early access subscribers receive new research angles, expanded suburb rankings, and model updates as the dataset grows.