Pacific Pines Liveability Snapshot

Pacific Pines, at a glance

• Position, northern Gold Coast, large inland masterplanned suburb between Southport and Helensvale

• Distance to Brisbane, approximately a 1 hour drive

• Commute to Gold Coast Airport, approximately 35 to 40 minutes

• Vibe, quiet, family-focused, suburban, park-oriented

• Best for, families wanting space, parks, schools, and a quieter suburban feel

• Day-to-day, residential and family-focused, centred aroun school runs, sports, and local errands

• Walkability is low to moderate, more car-based overall

• Transport, bus services and easy M1 access via Smith Street

• Schools are catchment dependent, multiple state primary and secondary options depending on street

• Hazards are generally low, with some bushfire overlays near reserve edges

If you want the investor view as well, including how the house and family home market behaves and what drives price movement across different Pacific Pines pockets, email me and I can give you a quick, plain-English summary tailored to your budget and property type.

If you are moving over from NZ, start here, at my Moving from NZ hub, with checklists, early admin steps, and Gold Coast suburb guidance.

Overview

Pacific Pines is a large, masterplanned residential suburb in the northern Gold Coast, sitting inland from Southport and Helensvale. It is predominantly made up of family homes, parks, and schools, with very little high-density housing.

Compared with coastal or CBD suburbs, Pacific Pines feels quieter and more suburban, with daily life centred around schools, sport, local shopping centres, and family routines.

Who Pacific Pines suits best

Pacific Pines suits families, particularly those with school-aged children, who value space, modern housing, and access to schools and parks. It is also popular with buyers who want a quieter lifestyle while still being within driving distance of beaches, Southport, and employment hubs.

If your priority is walkability, cafés, nightlife, or being close to the water, Pacific Pines may feel too car dependent.

Why choose Pacific Pines

Pacific Pines is often chosen for its consistent family-oriented environment, strong school options, and abundance of parks and green space. It appeals to households who value space, quieter streets and a traditional suburban lifestyle over walkability or coastal proximity.

For many families, Pacific Pines offers a sense of stability and community, with less short-term turnover than higher-density or tourism-adjacent suburbs.

Housing and streetscape feel

Housing in Pacific Pines is dominated by detached family homes, many built from the late 1990s through to the 2010s. Streets are typically wide, with cul-de-sacs and neighbourhood park pockets.

There is limited unit or townhouse stock, so the suburb feels more consistent than areas with mixed housing density. Street feel is generally similar across the suburb, although homes backing onto bushland or reserves can feel quieter and more private.

Getting around and commute reality

Pacific Pines is a car-based suburb. Most residents drive for work, school, and shopping. Bus services operate through the suburb, but they are generally used as a supplement rather than a replacement for driving.

Smith Street provides a direct east-west connection to Southport and the Broadwater, while the M1 offers north-south access to Brisbane and the wider Gold Coast.

Schools and education

State school zoning in Queensland is address-based, not suburb-name based. Pacific Pines is a large suburb with multiple catchment zones, so the only reliable way to confirm eligibility is to check the exact address in EdMap for the relevant year level and enrolment year.

Primary schools your Pacific Pines address may be zoned for:

• Pacific Pines State School

• Park Lake State School

• Helensvale State School for some edge pockets

Secondary schools your Pacific Pines address may be zoned for:

• Pacific Pines State High School

• Helensvale State High School for some edge pockets

When researching Pacific Pines schools online, you will see a wide range of opinions. This is common in large, high-enrolment family suburbs.

Online commentary often reflects individual experiences rather than the overall day-to-day environment. As with other northern Gold Coast suburbs, visiting the school, understanding catchment rules, and considering your child’s individual needs will give you far more useful insight than review sites alone.

If you are relocating with kids and want help shortlisting schools and aligning catchments with your housing search, I offer a Family Relocation Concierge option; details are on my services page.

Parks, sports, and lifestyle amenities

Pacific Pines is well known for its parks, sporting facilities, and green space. The suburb has numerous local parks, playgrounds, and sporting fields that support a strong family-oriented, outdoor lifestyle.

Residents often use local walking tracks and neighbourhood parks rather than large destination precincts, reinforcing the suburb’s everyday, community-focused feel.

Convenience and day-to-day essentials

Pacific Pines has multiple neighbourhood shopping centres providing supermarkets, cafés, takeaway, medical services, and gyms. Larger retail and service hubs are nearby in Helensvale and Southport.

For most residents, daily errands are simple but car based.

Dining and cafés

Dining in Pacific Pines is primarily local and convenience-based. Cafés, takeaway and casual dining are located within neighbourhood shopping centres and are geared toward everyday family use rather than destination dining.

For a broader café scene or nightlife, residents typically travel to nearby suburbs such as Helensvale, Southport or coastal areas.

Shopping and everyday services

Pacific Pines has multiple local shopping centres providing supermarkets, cafés, medical services, gyms and everyday retail. These are spread across the suburb to serve residential pockets rather than forming a single town centre.

Larger-scale shopping and specialist services are easily accessed in Helensvale and Southport, which supports Pacific Pines’ quieter residential character.

Community profile

Pacific Pines has a strong family presence, with many owner-occupiers and long-term residents. The community is relatively stable compared with more transient or high-density suburbs.

Day-to-day life is centred around schools, sport, and family activities rather than tourism or nightlife.

Crime and safety, relative to the Gold Coast

Pacific Pines consistently ranks as a lower-crime suburb within the Gold Coast, and it performs strongly on a per-capita basis compared with Queensland and Australia overall. Based on 2024 data, Pacific Pines records fewer crimes per 1,000 residents than both Queensland and Australia, with violent crime also well below state and national averages. Most reported offences are non-violent and tend to be opportunistic, rather than suggesting broader day-to-day safety concerns in residential streets.

Headline figures (2024):

• Crime rank – 10/100
  Lower score indicates lower overall crime relative to population

• Total offences – 528

• Crimes per 1,000 residents – 31.69
  Queensland – higher
  Australia – higher

• Violent crimes – 55 total

• Violent crime rate – 3.30 per 1,000 residents
  Queensland – higher
  Australia – higher

• Property crimes – 274 total

• Property crime rate – 16.44 per 1,000 residents
  Queensland – higher
  Australia – higher

Most reported offence groups: The majority of crime in Pacific Pines is non-violent and opportunistic rather than residential or personal safety related.

Top reported offence categories in 2024:

1. Theft – 170 offences

2. Drug dealing and trafficking – 65 offences

3. Transport regulation offences – 60 offences

These figures typically reflect everyday movement through local centres and main roads, rather than indicating higher risk across quiet residential pockets.

Likelihood of being affected

• Chance of being a victim of violent crime – 1 in 303
  Queensland – 1 in 123
  Australia – 1 in 89

• Chance of being a victim of property crime – 1 in 61
  Queensland – 1 in 22
  Australia – 1 in 26

This reinforces the pattern in the data, very low violent crime risk, with property crime still present but materially lower than state and national benchmarks.

Trend direction

• Total crime in Pacific Pines decreased by 5.38% from 2023 to 2024

• The five-year trend line indicates a general downward movement in overall offences, rather than sharp spikes

Bottom line: Pacific Pines is one of the more stable and lower-risk suburbs on the Gold Coast from a crime perspective. Violent crime rates are well below Queensland and Australia overall, and property crime is also comparatively low. Most offences are theft and other opportunistic categories, which aligns with normal suburban movement and local activity rather than neighbourhood safety issues.

For buyers and renters, the data supports what many locals experience, a family-oriented suburb with generally quiet residential streets and crime patterns that are more about opportunity than ongoing risk.

Data source: RedSuburbs, 2024. Based on Queensland Police Service offence data and ABS Census population figures. For street-level detail by offence type and time period, the Queensland Police Online Crime Map allows address-specific filtering

Socioeconomic context, SEIFA

SEIFA provides area-level context rather than insight into individual households. A lower score indicates greater relative disadvantage, and a higher score indicates less disadvantage.

For Pacific Pines (SA2 Pacific Pines – Gaven), the Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD) score is 1030.2, with an overall decile position of 7 out of 10 (higher decile indicates less disadvantage).

Pacific Pines has a high share of detached family homes and lower unit density than central, mixed-density suburbs, which often aligns with a more advantaged SEIFA profile.

Plain English takeaway: Pacific Pines generally trends more advantaged than many mixed-density suburbs, but lived experience still varies street to street depending on housing type, traffic exposure, and which pocket you choose.

Price and rental context

Pacific Pines generally sits in the mid range for established family suburbs on the Gold Coast, reflecting its inland position, dominance of detached housing and strong appeal to owner-occupiers. Pricing varies by pocket, elevation, and proximity to schools and parks.

• Median house price, around $1.05m

• Median unit price, around $720k

• Median 4 bedroom house rent, around $900 per week

• Median unit rent, around $700 per week

Medians sourced from realestate.com.au, for 12 months to December 2025

As a broad guide only, and subject to market conditions at the time, detached homes in Pacific Pines typically attract family buyers seeking space and consistency, while limited unit supply means apartment pricing can be less representative suburb-wide.

Plain English takeaway: Pacific Pines is not the cheapest northern suburb, but it offers relative stability and family appeal. Most buyers shortlist Pacific Pines for lifestyle fit first, then refine by school zone and street to stay within budget.

Flood, bushfire, and natural hazard considerations

Flood risk across Pacific Pines is generally low, as the suburb sits inland and elevated compared with coastal and river-adjacent areas.

Some properties near bushland and reserve edges may fall within mapped bushfire overlays. As with all suburbs, overlays are property specific and should be checked at an address level.

As with any area where overlays may apply, insurance premiums can vary by property, so it is worth getting an insurance quote early in your decision-making process.

Quick take, pros and trade-offs

Pros:
Family friendly, strong schools offering, parks and green space, quieter streets, good access to Smith Street and the M1.

Trade-offs:
Car dependent, limited walkable café lifestyle, further from beaches, housing stock is largely similar in style.

Helpful links

These tools are address-specific, so always check the exact property before relying on suburb-wide assumptions.

• School catchments, EdMap
  Queensland Police crime map
  City of Gold Coast flood planning map
  FloodCheck Queensland
  City of Gold Coast bushfire overlay mapping RedSuburb crime statistics

Helpful note

Pacific Pines is a suburb where lifestyle fit matters more than proximity to the beach. If you are shortlisting it, focus on school zones, commute patterns, and how much car-based living suits your family’s routine.

If you want, I am happy to sanity-check a specific street, school catchment, or property against how you want to live day to day - Lets Talk