Mermaid Waters flood map & planning overlays
A planning-constraint profile of Mermaid Waters
(Gold Coast City, QLD) - 7.12 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 19 September 2026.
Suburb-wide figures; the free map shows which overlays touch your lot.
Constraint readout
7.12 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Mermaid Waters's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Mermaid Waters properties?
Overlay percentages say how much land is constrained; these figures say how many properties are actually touched in a suburb-wide analysis of 6,181 Mermaid Waters properties. No individual property result is identified on this page.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 6,181 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Mermaid Waters.
Mermaid Waters at a glance
Schools in and near Mermaid Waters
Public school-location data shows availability across the suburb. These figures do not rate schools and do not assign a particular address to a catchment.
Inside the suburb boundary
1 school providing primary years and 2 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: inside the suburb
Secondary: inside the suburb
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time; use the official catchment finder for a specific address.
How Mermaid Waters is zoned
Selling in Mermaid Waters? The lot-level zone is the zoning Part 3 of Queensland's Form 2 seller disclosure statement asks for - see our Form 2 planning data guide.
Across its 7.12 km², Mermaid Waters is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 97% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 5% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Low density residential. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 690 m² across 6,469 parcels.
Recent development applications in Mermaid Waters
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public City of Gold Coast register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 17 September 2026.
Previous 12 months: 99 (25% higher in the latest period).
Common application types
- Material change of use: 10
Counts depend on applications that the council publishes and that can be assigned to a suburb. Categories can overlap when one application covers several types. Totals below five and their latest dates are suppressed. Register last synchronised 20 September 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Mermaid Waters
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Mermaid Waters suburb boundary itself, not a wider region.
Socio-economic standing
ABS SEIFA 2021 ranks every Australian suburb. Decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth of the country, decile 10 the least.
Score 1038, and decile 9 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Mermaid Waters's 13,088 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Mermaid Waters, the wider ABS statistical area containing Mermaid Waters. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Mermaid Waters itself.
11,923 in 2001 to 14,564 in 2025, up 22%.
Source: ABS Census 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (Suburbs and Localities), Regional Population (SA2), CC BY 4.0. Small counts are randomly adjusted by the ABS.
Mermaid Waters data sources and coverage
“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.
| Dataset | Coverage | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Flood mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Zoning | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data, Defence |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
| School availability | Available | Queensland Government |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | City of Gold Coast |
Profile last materially updated 19 September 2026. See the methodology and full source list. Source data changes over time and critical decisions should be checked with the responsible authority.
Check a specific Mermaid Waters address
See exactly which overlays touch a single property - the interactive map is free. Need it on paper? A full planning PDF is just $9.
Published flood models are held over parts of Mermaid Waters. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$9 with the planning report.
The Terrain Report shows the fall of the block - contours, cross sections and a 3D model of the lot (+$9 with the planning report).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and an indicative AS 2870 site class for a Mermaid Waters lot.
See what's in the $9 report →Mermaid Waters planning - frequently asked
Is Mermaid Waters flood-prone?
About 97% of Mermaid Waters falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 38%. Across the suburb, 100% of the 6,181 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 2862 rated high risk or historically affected.
Is Mermaid Waters bushfire-prone?
Around 5% of Mermaid Waters is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Gold Coast City average of 50%.
What is the zoning in Mermaid Waters?
The dominant planning zone in Mermaid Waters is Low density residential, though the suburb also includes Medium density residential and Open space.
Does Mermaid Waters have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Mermaid Waters.
Is Mermaid Waters hilly or flat?
Mermaid Waters is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 3%. Ground level runs from roughly 3 m to 6 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Mermaid Waters?
Across 6,469 surveyed parcels in Mermaid Waters, the median lot size is about 690 m². There are also 359 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Mermaid Waters have a train station?
There is no train station inside Mermaid Waters itself. The suburb is served by 49 bus stops.
What is the population of Mermaid Waters?
At the 2021 Census Mermaid Waters had 13,088 usual residents, with a median age of 40 and an average household size of 2.5 people. The wider Mermaid Waters statistical area, which contains Mermaid Waters, went from 11,923 people in 2001 to 14,564 in 2025, up 22%.
Is Mermaid Waters an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Mermaid Waters scores 1038 and sits in decile 8 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Mermaid Waters?
Median household income in Mermaid Waters was $1,766 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,830 for the typical suburb in Gold Coast City. Median rent was $450 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,167 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mermaid Beach | 1.5 km | 17% | 0% |
| Miami | 2.2 km | 24% | 21% |
| Clear Island Waters | 2.6 km | 96% | 8% |
| Broadbeach | 2.9 km | 32% | 0% |
| Broadbeach Waters | 2.9 km | 100% | 10% |
| Robina | 3.6 km | 42% | 6% |
| Burleigh Waters | 3.8 km | 70% | 11% |
| Varsity Lakes | 4.0 km | 56% | 12% |
| Bundall | 4.7 km | 92% | 4% |
| Merrimac | 4.7 km | 78% | 26% |