Kirwan is a large residential suburb in the City of Townsville, situated approximately 11 to 12 kilometres southwest of the Townsville CBD in Northern Queensland. With a SEIFA IRSAD score of 967 against a national mean of 1000, it sits in decile 5 of 10 nationally and at the 54th percentile within Queensland. That places Kirwan in the mid band: neither a high-advantage enclave nor a structurally disadvantaged area, but a broadly average socioeconomic setting for a regional Queensland city. Investors should treat this reading as a macro-level orientation, not a verdict on any individual property.
ABS 2021 IRSAD release. Score 967 (national mean = 1000).
A SEIFA score of 967 tells PropertyRanker that Kirwan sits modestly below the national mean, consistent with a large, established regional suburb that houses a wide cross-section of working and middle-income households. The score feeds directly into three of PropertyRanker's twelve scoring criteria: economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk. On economic_strength, the mid-band reading signals a workforce base that is functional but not insulated from the cyclical pressures that affect regional Queensland cities, including defence sector fluctuations and commodity-linked employment. On entry_point_risk, a mid-band score suggests the suburb is not priced at a premium that requires strong socioeconomic tailwinds to sustain, which can be a useful characteristic for investors focused on yield rather than speculative capital growth. On hazard_risk, SEIFA is used as a proxy for the capacity of a local population to absorb and recover from adverse events; a score near the mean implies moderate resilience. Kirwan is one of Townsville's largest suburbs by population, with a well-established commercial spine along Thuringowa Drive and the Willows Shopping Centre anchoring retail activity. Proximity to James Cook University adds a student and academic tenant pool that can support rental demand. The suburb's scale and self-contained amenity profile make it relevant across more than one investment strategy. The Balanced strategy (anchored around a 5 percent gross yield) and the High Yield strategy (anchored around 6 percent) are the most plausible starting frames for a regional suburb at this socioeconomic level, but the actual yield on any given listing must be confirmed against current rental data before drawing conclusions.
Kirwan (4817) is recording strong price momentum, with CoreLogic data via yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au reporting a median house sale price of $635,000 to March 2026, up 17.59% over 12 months, on 444 house sales. Propertyvalue.com.au (Cotality) separately records a median sale price of $571,000 with 24.4% annual growth, an average of 14 days on market, and a vendor discount of -3.8%. HtAG Analytics (August 2026) places the typical house price at $780,705 with supply-constrained conditions, a vacancy rate of 1.41%, and stock on market of just 0.29%, pointing to continued upward price pressure.
Anchor points pulled per refresh from publicly available suburb profiles. Approximate; not a moving average.
Days on market are very short at 14-15 days and vendor discounts are narrow at -3.8% against a backdrop of strong price growth, while the vacancy rate of 1.41% sits in the balanced band, yielding a warming composite.
Sources: Kirwan QLD 4817 Suburb Profile & Property Report | YIP (CoreLogic) (2026-03-01); Kirwan House Prices & Property Trends | propertyvalue.com.au (2025-01-01); Kirwan QLD 4817 Property Market and House Prices 2026 | HtAG Analytics (2026-08-05); Kirwan Property Market and Trends | OpenAgent (2025-11-12) · Refreshed 10 Sep 2026
PropertyRanker scores any Australian property against 12 criteria across three pillars: Growth, Cashflow, and Risk. SEIFA is a primary signal for economic strength and a supporting one for entry-price risk. It also informs the crime side of hazard risk, though physical overlays like flood, bushfire and coastal exposure, and recorded crime data where available, take priority there. The decile of 5 shown above gives a listing in Kirwan a broadly mid-band starting line on economic strength and entry-price risk relative to the national median postcode.
On top of that, PropertyRanker chooses one of four strategies (Balanced, Growth, Yield, Regional) and applies a per-strategy yield anchor. The anchors are 3.5% for Growth, 5% for Balanced, 6% for Yield, and 7% for Regional. A mid-band postcode does not favour one strategy outright; Balanced (5% anchor) is the common fit, with Yield (6%) reachable where a specific listing rent-to-price ratio supports it.
Read the scoring guide for the full criteria list and how the verdict thresholds work.
The SEIFA reading establishes the postcode-level socioeconomic frame, but it cannot see the factors that determine whether a specific listing is worth pursuing. Investors should confirm the current SQM vacancy rate for postcode 4817, because Townsville's rental market can shift materially with defence and mining employment cycles. Body corporate health matters for any unit or townhouse: check the sinking fund balance and any outstanding special levies. Flood and overlay status is a non-trivial consideration in Townsville, where parts of the broader area carry inundation risk; verify the specific lot against the Townsville City Council flood mapping and any applicable overlays in the planning scheme. Finally, price the listing against recent comparable sales in Kirwan and the immediately adjacent suburbs to assess whether the asking price reflects current market conditions. Score the specific listing in PropertyRanker to get a verdict that accounts for all of these factors, including live vacancy data, overlay status, and pricing against recent comparable sales.
Kirwan's SEIFA IRSAD score of 967 places it in the mid band nationally and at the 54th percentile within Queensland, indicating a broadly average socioeconomic setting rather than a high-advantage or high-risk one. That profile does not make it a straightforward buy or pass; it means the suburb does not carry the structural tailwinds of a top-decile area, nor the elevated entry-point risk of a bottom-decile one. Whether a specific property here suits your portfolio depends on the listing's yield, vacancy conditions, and overlay status, all of which vary at the street level. Score the individual listing in PropertyRanker for a data-grounded assessment.
Given Kirwan's mid-band SEIFA reading and its profile as a large, self-contained regional suburb with a diverse tenant base including families, defence personnel, and students near James Cook University, the Balanced strategy (anchored around 5 percent gross yield) and the High Yield strategy (anchored around 6 percent) are the most plausible starting frames. The Capital Growth strategy, which targets around 3.5 percent gross yield and relies more heavily on socioeconomic tailwinds, is a less natural fit for a suburb sitting modestly below the national mean. Confirm the actual achievable yield on any specific listing before committing to a strategy.
The primary macro risks are Townsville's exposure to defence and resources sector employment cycles, which can move vacancy rates quickly in a suburb of this size. Flood and inundation risk is a genuine consideration across parts of the Townsville LGA; investors must check the specific lot against council flood mapping rather than assuming postcode-level safety. A SEIFA score of 967 also signals that the local population has moderate rather than strong economic resilience, which can affect rental demand and tenant quality during downturns. Body corporate condition is an additional risk for attached dwellings, and should be verified through a formal strata report.
PropertyRanker uses the SEIFA IRSAD reading as a primary input for three of its twelve scoring criteria: economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk. For Kirwan, the score of 967 (decile 5, 54th percentile in Queensland) positions the suburb in the mid range on all three criteria. The remaining nine criteria draw on listing-level and real-time data that SEIFA cannot capture, including current SQM vacancy, body corporate health, flood overlay status, and pricing against recent comparable sales. The final score for any Kirwan listing reflects all twelve signals together, not the SEIFA reading alone.
Kirwan, Kelso, and Thuringowa Central all sit within the City of Townsville LGA and share broadly similar regional characteristics, though each has a distinct character. Thuringowa Central shares postcode 4817 with Kirwan and is effectively embedded within it, functioning as the commercial and recreational hub of the precinct. Kelso, to the south with postcode 4815, is a smaller residential suburb with a quieter profile. Socioeconomic differences between these suburbs at the SEIFA level are modest, but individual listings can score quite differently once listing-level data is applied; use PropertyRanker to compare specific properties across these postcodes rather than relying on suburb-level generalisations.
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