Suburb Details
Mermaid Beach is without doubt one of the Gold Coast’s most prestigious addresses. It is home to Hedges Avenue, known as Millionaire’s Row because of the multi-million dollar price tags linked to property deals along the beachfront. If you want to live beachfront you will need a very healthy bank account. As of January 2023, the estimate for a cheap beachfront block of land at Hedges Avenue was around $14 million. Even the beachside houses cost a pretty penny. As a guide, the median price for houses in Mermaid Beach has climbed to $3.3 million.
If your bank balance is not quite as healthy as you might like, buying an apartment in the suburb is a much more affordable option. They are a lot more affordable with the median price sitting at $775,000 in January 2023. Of course, there is not as many apartments to choose from as there are in other Gold Coast suburbs. This is because most of Mermaid Beach has development restrictions which prevent the height of buildings being more than three storeys high. These is a major drawcard for homebuyers because there are no other beachfront suburbs that have such stringent height restrictions.
The height restrictions mean that Mermaid Beach, despite the heft price tag of acquiring property, maintains a strong community feel. While the suburb does have more than its share of multi-millionaires, its also home to many families who have held onto their properties for years and years.
During World War II, Mermaid Beach, then called Los Angeles Beach, was used by US servicemen for rest and recreation. The name Mermaid Beach came from the cutter HMS Mermaid that explorer John Oxley sailed aboard in 1823 when he discovered the nearby Tweed and Brisbane rivers.
The suburb was initially home to a collection of beach shacks, but these have most disappeared and have been replaced by fresh, modernised beachside homes that owners can be proud of.
However, if you are lucky, you can still find one or two of the original beach shacks in the suburb.
Mermaid’s dining scene has come of age in the past few years with some of the Gold Coast’s best restaurants lining the Gold Coast Highway. This is includes local favourites such as the hidden Japanese restaurant Etsu Izakaya, the Mexican charmer Bonita Bonita, The Glenelg Public House and Little Truffle. The casual dining precinct at Nobby Beach is particularly popular with hipsters and up-and-coming professionals.
Obviously, the suburb’s proximity to the beach is the major drawcard and there are three surf clubs in the area patrolling what is a relatively quiet stretch of coastline. The suburbs is also very close to the delights of Broadbeach and is set to benefit from improved transport options when the Light Rail Stage 3 is completed.
Click for more detail and Core Logic Statistics – Suburb Report Mermaid Beach