Queensland
Rooms for rent in Brisbane
Most people in a Brisbane share house had a choice and picked here over Sydney or Melbourne. This page is about what that choice buys you and what it asks back, once you are looking for a room.
Free · iPhone · iOS 16.4 or later · no account needed to browse
Coming north from Sydney or Melbourne, and the part nobody mentions
Plenty of people in a Brisbane share house came up from Sydney or Melbourne, and most of them tell you the same two things first. Rent per week goes further here, and winter is barely a season at all. Then they tell you about February. The humidity settles in around December, storm season builds through the afternoons, and a house that is lovely in July can be hard work by the end of summer.
The other half of the trade is the shape of the place. There is no tram grid and nothing like Sydney's density. What Brisbane has instead is busways, a handful of train lines and a river with ferries on it. Every Translink journey costs a flat 50 cents, any distance, any mode, which quietly changes where it makes sense to live. The busways are roads only buses use, so a room at Buranda or Holland Park can reach town faster than one closer in. The red CityHopper loops the inner river between North Quay, South Bank, Kangaroo Point and New Farm for nothing. The Airtrain out to the airport is the one fare priced on its own.
The river doubles back, so the kilometres lie
Brisbane wraps around a river that doubles back on itself, so a distance on the map and a travel time are different numbers. Bulimba and Teneriffe sit a few hundred metres apart across the water and a long way apart by road. Work out which bridge or ferry you would actually use before you settle on a suburb.
Because fares do not climb with distance, the usual reason to squeeze into the inner ring is weaker here. The first five kilometres is still the dearest and the rooms are smallest. Push out and you get space, and living well out of town is ordinary in Brisbane rather than a compromise.
- Under five kilometres. Dearest and smallest, but you can walk or catch a ferry to most of what you would do.
- Eight to twelve kilometres. The middle of the market, and where a lot of the larger share houses are.
- Fifteen and further. Fine here if it is near a station or a busway, and the rent difference is real.
The house itself, and the summer inside it
Much of the share housing is old timber Queenslanders up on stumps: high ceilings, a verandah, floorboards that carry every footstep. They catch a breeze and they hold heat, so the questions worth asking are about summer. A ceiling fan is the minimum. Ask whether the room has air conditioning and who pays to run it, because that bill is the part people forget when they work out what they saved by moving north.
Where people look in Brisbane
Inner north
New Farm, Teneriffe, Newstead, Fortitude Valley, Bowen Hills
The Valley's music venues hold late licences, so a room near Brunswick Street means you will hear Friday and Saturday nights.
West End and the near south
West End, Highgate Hill, South Brisbane, Dutton Park, Annerley
West End sits inside a tight river bend with only a few roads out, which is why people there tend to walk or cycle across to South Bank rather than drive anywhere.
Inner west
Toowong, Auchenflower, Milton, Taringa, St Lucia, Indooroopilly
It is properly hilly, so a room described as ten minutes from the station can mean ten minutes downhill and twenty back up in February heat.
The eastern river bends
Bulimba, Hawthorne, Morningside, Norman Park, Cannon Hill
Bulimba and Hawthorne are ferry suburbs first, and people living there plan the whole trip to work around the CityCat terminal rather than the nearest bus stop.
South along the busway
Woolloongabba, Greenslopes, Coorparoo, Holland Park, Mount Gravatt
These sit on the South East Busway, a road no cars use, so eight kilometres out here can beat four kilometres stuck in ordinary traffic.
Northside middle ring
Nundah, Wooloowin, Windsor, Clayfield, Kedron, Chermside
Wooloowin and Clayfield sit on the airport line, handy if you fly for work, though that airport trip is the one journey that is not 50 cents. Kedron and Chermside have no train at all and run on buses and the Northern Busway.
What Kip Haus is
A free iPhone app that introduces somebody with a spare room to somebody who needs one. Drop a pin anywhere on the map, choose how far around it to look — 2 km out to 100 km — and go through the rooms one at a time.
Rent is shown per week. Browsing, listing and messaging are all free, and signing up is a six-digit code emailed to you: no password, no documents, any visa. It works from overseas, before you fly.
Kip Haus reads incoming messages for the pattern scammers use and warns you in the chat. The rule that does the most work is simpler than anything software can do, though: stand in the room, or have somebody you trust stand in it, before any money moves.
iPhone, iOS 16.4 or later. Nothing to pay, at any point.
Brisbane: questions people ask before they move
Which Brisbane suburbs flood and should I ask about it?
Ask. It is a normal question here and nobody will be offended by it. The river went over in 1974, 2011 and 2022, and creek flooding catches streets well away from the river as well. Anyone who has lived in the suburb a while can tell you which streets went under, and the council's flood maps are public if you want to check an address. A ground-floor room built in under a Queenslander is the one worth asking about twice.
Is a queenslander house hot in summer?
It depends where the room sits. High-set timber houses catch a breeze upstairs and stay reasonable if the windows line up, but a room built in underneath later, or one facing west, holds the afternoon heat. The humidity from December through March is more the issue than the temperature. Ask about a ceiling fan, air conditioning, and who pays the power to run it.
Is the citycat any good for getting to work?
Yes, if your suburb and your work are both near the river. From Bulimba, Hawthorne, New Farm or Teneriffe it is often the quickest way into town, and it never sits in traffic. It runs to a timetable and the terminals are walk-up, which is why people there plan around the ferry rather than the nearest bus stop. The free red CityHopper covers the inner loop only, not the longer runs.
How do I get from Brisbane airport to my suburb?
The Airtrain runs from both terminals into Central and on south, and it is the one fare not covered by the 50 cent flat rate. Once you are on the ordinary network, every leg after that is 50 cents. If you are landing late with bags, a rideshare straight to the suburb is worth it once, and cheaper again if someone is splitting it with you.
Have a look at Brisbane.
Drop a pin, pick how far to search, and go through the rooms. Free to browse, free to list, free to message.
Scan with your iPhone camera