Atherton · Mareeba · Kuranda · Malanda · Ravenshoe
A buyers agent on the Tablelands.
No employer here reaches five per cent of the workforce — and almost nobody knows it. Coppick Property Advisory acts for buyers here — and only for buyers.
Yes, Coppick Property Advisory works on the Tablelands. Ryan Coppick is a Licensed Real Estate Agent in Queensland, licence 4961592, covering Atherton, Mareeba, Kuranda, Malanda, Yungaburra, Herberton and Ravenshoe.
We act for the buyer only — never sellers, never developers. No commission is accepted from any agent, seller, broker or developer, and no referral fee is paid or received in either direction. Fees are flat and agreed in writing before any work begins.
The Tablelands and Mareeba by the numbers.
Structural figures, not market snapshots. Census data does not move between quarters the way a median does, which is why it is what appears here.
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population — Tablelands (Atherton, Malanda, Ravenshoe, Herberton) | 26,244 | ABS Census 2021 |
| Population — Mareeba (Mareeba, Kuranda, Dimbulah) | 22,858 | ABS Census 2021 |
| Median age — Tablelands / Mareeba | 49 / 43 years | ABS Census 2021 |
| Owned outright — Tablelands / Mareeba | 44.7% / 39.6% | ABS Census 2021 |
| Households renting — Tablelands / Mareeba | 24.2% / 25.1% | ABS Census 2021 |
| Largest employer — Tablelands | Hospitals — 3.9% of workers | ABS Census 2021 |
| Largest employer — Mareeba | Fruit and tree nut growing — 4.7% of workers | ABS Census 2021 |
| Dwellings unoccupied — Tablelands / Mareeba | 13.1% / 10.5% | ABS Census 2021 |
We do not publish current median prices, vacancy rates or yields on this page. Those figures move, they differ depending on whether the geography is a suburb, postcode or statistical area, and published sources frequently disagree with each other by a wide margin. Current numbers for a specific suburb are what the research work produces — the method is set out here.
What actually drives the Tablelands market.
No sector reaches five per cent.
This is the finding, and it runs against what almost everyone assumes about farming country. The largest single employer sector on the Tablelands at the 2021 Census was hospitals, at 3.9% of workers. Beef cattle farming was 2.9%. In Mareeba the largest was fruit and tree nut growing at 4.7%, with hospitals at 4.0%. Nothing reaches five per cent. Set that against 19.6% in sugar around Ingham, 10.3% in accommodation in the Whitsundays, or 9.5% in coal at Mackay. On employment concentration, this is among the most diversified regions we write about anywhere in Queensland, alongside the Southern Downs around Warwick and Stanthorpe and the Scenic Rim.
Because the farming itself is diversified.
Beef, dairy, avocados and other tree crops, bananas, coffee, sugar down the range, and a tourism trade through Kuranda and the lakes. A single bad season in one crop does not empty this economy the way it can in a one-crop district. Add hospitals, schools and local government on top and you have something genuinely unusual for a rural region: spread. That is the strongest structural argument for the Tablelands and it is almost never made, because it requires reading the Census rather than the brochure.
Diversified is not the same as deep.
The honest counterweight. Two shires, roughly 49,000 people between them, spread across many small towns. Unoccupied dwellings ran at 13.1% on the Tablelands and 10.5% in Mareeba, and the median age on the Tablelands was 49. A steady economy does not create a liquid property market. Atherton, Mareeba, Malanda, Yungaburra, Kuranda, Herberton, Ravenshoe and Dimbulah are separate small markets, and in each of them the question of who buys this from you later is a real one that deserves an answer before you buy it.
Mareeba is the younger, working end.
Median age 43 against 49, more mortgaged households, fewer empty dwellings and a lower entry price. Mareeba and Kuranda sit within reach of Cairns and take some of the pressure off it, which gives that end of the region a commuter and affordability dimension the higher, cooler southern Tablelands does not have. The two shires are not one market and should not be priced as one.
On acreage, water and access are the whole job.
Much of what sells here is rural residential rather than suburban. Where the water comes from and what rights attach to it, whether the road is sealed and who maintains it, the septic system and when it was last certified, bushfire exposure on the drier western side, and whether your lender will treat the block as residential at all — many apply different policy above two hectares. Any one of those can change the deposit you need or the loan you get, and none of them appear in a listing photograph.
What we watch for on the Tablelands.
- Water. Where it comes from, what is licensed, what is metered, and what happens in a dry year. On rural land this is the first question, not a detail.
- Lender policy on land size. Above two hectares many lenders change their terms, and above a certain size some will not lend at all on residential terms.
- Road access and maintenance, septic certification, power supply and internet. Rural services are not assumptions.
- Bushfire exposure on the drier western side around Mareeba and Dimbulah, and the rainfall and drainage picture on the wetter southern Tablelands.
- Liquidity in the specific town. Ask who the next buyer is and how long recent comparable properties took to sell.
- Comparable sales taken from the wrong town. Atherton, Mareeba, Kuranda and Malanda do not price each other.
- Buying unseen from interstate is common here and is where most of the avoidable mistakes happen.
What it costs.
Flat fees. Not a percentage of what you pay for the property, so there is no mechanism by which we benefit from you spending more.
Fifteen minutes. Whether we are the right fit, and whether you need us at all.
Where to buy and why, with the data behind it. You can act on it yourself afterwards.
Search, assess, inspect, negotiate and settle. End to end.
Where we work.
Coppick Property Advisory holds a Queensland real estate licence and works on Queensland property. Within that, these are the markets we know best.
Worth reading first.
Two short guides from our library that do the most for Tablelands buyers: how to find what a property actually sold for (the list price is a marketing number), and who the agent at the open home really works for. When you are ready to cost a purchase, the Queensland stamp duty calculator has the full 2026 rate table. And before you sign with anyone — including us — run them through the ten questions to ask any buyers agent.
Common questions.
Does Coppick Property Advisory work on the Tablelands and in Mareeba?
Yes. Coppick Property Advisory is a licensed Queensland buyers agency (QLD Real Estate Licence 4961592) and the Tablelands and Mareeba shires, including Atherton, Mareeba, Kuranda, Malanda, Yungaburra, Herberton and Ravenshoe, are within its service area.
What does a buyers agent cost on the Tablelands?
Coppick charges flat fees, not a percentage of the purchase price: a free 15-minute discovery call, a Strategy Session at $899, and Full Buyers Agency at $11,500. Fees are agreed in writing before work begins and do not change with the price you pay for the property.
Is the Tablelands economy too dependent on farming?
The data says the opposite, and it is the most surprising thing about the region. At the 2021 Census the largest single employer sector on the Tablelands was hospitals at just 3.9% of workers, with beef cattle farming at 2.9%. In Mareeba the largest was fruit and tree nut growing at 4.7%, with hospitals at 4.0%. No sector reaches 5%. Compare that with 19.6% in sugar around Ingham or 9.5% in coal at Mackay. Agriculture here is spread across beef, dairy, horticulture, coffee and cane rather than concentrated in one crop, and health, education and local government sit alongside it. On employment concentration this is the most diversified region we cover.
What should I check before buying acreage on the Tablelands?
Water, access, services and lender policy, in that order. Where the water comes from and what rights attach to it, whether the road is sealed and who maintains it, whether the property is on septic and when the system was last certified, and whether the lender will treat the block as residential at all. Many lenders apply different policy above two hectares and tighter policy again on larger rural holdings, which can change your deposit requirement or the loan you can get. None of this appears in a listing, and all of it is knowable before you make an offer.
Do you take commission from selling agents or developers?
No. Coppick accepts no commission, kickback or referral fee from sellers, developers, agents, brokers or any other party, in either direction. The buyer is the only party who pays, which is what keeps the advice independent.
Will you tell me not to buy?
Yes, and we will. A recommendation to walk away is a legitimate outcome of the work. An agency paid a percentage of the purchase price has a structural reason to find a reason to buy. A flat fee removes that.
Start with the free call.
Fifteen minutes, no obligation, and a genuine answer about whether you need a buyers agent at all. Sometimes the answer is no, and saying so is part of the job.