Moorooka is a suburb in the inner South of Brisbane, located approximately 7 kilometres from Brisbane CBD. The suburb’s proximity to the city is one of the reasons why Moorooka continues to gain the interest of property investors. In this edition of suburb review, we take a closer look at Moorooka, analyse the numbers that define the suburb, and explore the many reasons why this area may or may not fit your investing goals.
Before we enumerate the facilities and other factors, let us take a look at the demographics of Moorooka—its population, family composition, country of birth of residents, their occupation, and industry of employment.
The Numbers
Population Age
The predominant age group in Moorooka was 20-39 years. A quarter of the population is at 40-59 age bracket whilst 22% are at 0-19 years age group.
Marital Status
There’s almost an equal proportion of people who are married and those who are single in Moorooka.
Education
Of the 30% attending an educational institution in Moorooka, 21% were in primary school while 14% were in secondary school. Meanwhile, 31.7% were in tertiary or technical institution.
Country of Birth
More than half of residents of Moorooka were born in Australia (66.8%). Other nationalities were from New Zealand and England (3%), India (2.7%), China (1.1%) and Vietnam (0.9%).
Occupation
Moorooka, with its proximity to the Brisbane CBD, has majority of its people working as professionals (29.5%). Clerical and administrative workers follow at 15%.
Travel to Work
As in the rest of Australia, more than half of those who work travel by car. A small percentage go to work commuting via bus (8.3%), train (5.6%) or bicycle (2.4%).
Industry of Employment
Healthcare tops the list of industry of employment most common in Moorooka. School education related industry follows and tertiary education and cafes and restaurants.
Family Composition
In Moorooka, there’s almost an equal proportion of couple family with children and those without children.
Type of House
Most of dwellings in Moorooka are separate houses (65.6%); followed by flat units or apartments (25.2%).
Home ownership
Majority of settlers in Moorooka rent — 33.8%. Around 31%, meanwhile, own with a mortgage.
Median Rent
Weekly median rent in Moorooka, at $420, is higher than the state average of $300 in Queensland.
Facilities
Being relatively close to the City, Moorooka enjoys the easy access it has to the facilities of Brisbane CBD. But that is not to say that Moorooka doesn’t have its own basic facilities to service its residents.
Moorooka has two kindergartens and primary schools. There’s also the nondenominational Moorooka State School.
When it comes to healthcare facilities, which is the top industry of employment in the suburb, this is where Moorooka’s proximity and accessibility to surrounding suburbs is advantageous.
The nearest hospital to Moorooka is Greenslopes Private Hospital a mere 10-minute drive (6 kms). The very large Princess Alexandra Hospital in Woolloongabba is only 6km away. The Mater Children’s hospital is 10km away and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital located in Coopers Plains, meanwhile, is 15 minutes away from Moorooka.
When it comes to shopping, Moorvale, located on Beaudesert Road is the suburb’s shopping district. This shopping centre has over a hundred establishments—from cafes and restaurants to repairs and maintenance shops, dry cleaners, salons and pawn shops.
There’s also a Woolworths in Moorooka, which has been there since 1972 and was considered the biggest Woolworths Supermarket in entire Queensland at the time.
Larger shopping centres include the Centro Buranda, located 5km away and the Westfield Shopping complex at Carindale is 13km away.
The size of Moorooka is approximately 4 square kilometres and 5% of this is comprised of parks and reserves, and a skate park.
Transportation
Now here’s really one of the big come-ons of Moorooka when it comes to attracting property investors—its exceptional access to public transport, which makes traveling to surrounding Southern, Western and Northern suburbs easier. There is a direct public transport link to Queensland University, to the hospital precinct and Moorooka has its own train station, making commuting easier for its residents.
Regentrification
Moorooka has seen a large number of renovation and development projects over the last few years and the suburb is definitely on the move in terms of the demographic and pricing. Large variances in pricing and variances in the styles and overall feel of the suburb from pocket to pocket mean that it’s a place where you should do your on the ground research to really understand the pricing pockets of the area and where the best opportunities lie.
Summary
Moorooka’s proximity to the City and at the same time having a serene and close to nature appeal is one of the reasons why this suburb is touted as suburb on the rise. Households in Moorooka are primarily couples with children and the suburb, having easy access to surrounding suburbs, is able to provide those families with essential facilities while still offering the relaxing mood of being away from the bustle of the city.
It must be noted, though, that Moorooka experienced flooding in 2011, although it was mostly confined to the western area of the Ipswich road, which is near Moolabin Creek and Brisbane golf course.
But despite its flooding history, Moorooka is still a suburb to watch if we were to take a cue from its population growth (8% rise from 2006 census) and the gentrification that is happening here, reflecting the demands of younger families seeking to make the suburb their home.