Sunshine Coast at a glance

At a glance

The business base

There were 39,239 actively trading businesses in the Sunshine Coast local government area at 30 June 2025 and 8,016 in Noosa Shire, a combined 47,255. Over 2024-25 the Sunshine Coast added 1,099 businesses (2.9 per cent) and Noosa added 50 (0.6 per cent). In the same ABS extract Ipswich grew 6.4 per cent, Logan 5.9 per cent and Gold Coast 3.1 per cent, so the Sunshine Coast sits mid pack for the south east and Noosa sits at the bottom of it alongside Redland. At 30 June 2024 the two councils held 9.1 per cent of every actively trading business in Queensland across 3,123.7179 square kilometres.

What is over represented

Different things in each council, which is the whole point of reading them separately. On the Sunshine Coast it is construction at 8,204 businesses at 30 June 2024, 21.5 per cent of the base against 17.1 per cent for Queensland, an index of 1.26, and health care at 3,459 businesses, index 1.14. In Noosa it is accommodation and food services at 438 businesses, 5.5 per cent against 3.9 per cent for Queensland, an index of 1.41, and rental, hiring and real estate services at 1,244 businesses, 15.6 per cent of every business in the shire, an index of 1.34. The employee jobs data sharpens it: 16.1 per cent of Noosa employee jobs were in accommodation and food services in 2021-22 against 9.4 per cent for Queensland, an index of 1.72.

Where the businesses are

Maroochydore and Kuluin is the largest single business location at 3,560 businesses at 30 June 2024, ahead of the Noosa Hinterland at 2,935 and Buderim North at 2,599. The industrial supply is fragmented rather than concentrated: Kunda Park behind Maroochydore, Warana and Parrearra on the Nicklin Way, Coolum off Quanda Road and Junction Drive, Yandina and Nambour, Caloundra West, the Aura Business and Industry Park inside the Caloundra South priority development area, the airport land at Marcoola, and Rene Street and Eumundi Road at Noosaville. The trading strips are Ocean Street and Sunshine Plaza at Maroochydore, the Mooloolaba Esplanade, Bulcock Street at Caloundra, Kawana Shoppingworld at Buddina, Hastings Street at Noosa Heads, Gympie Terrace at Noosaville and Currie Street at Nambour.

Who the buyers are

Owner operators and small trade buyers, because that is what the base is made of. At 30 June 2024, 59.5 per cent of Sunshine Coast businesses and 61.4 per cent of Noosa businesses were non employing. Only 948 Sunshine Coast businesses and 178 Noosa businesses employed 20 or more people. Only 985 and 191 respectively turned over $5 million or more a year, a combined 1,176 out of 46,103, or 2.6 per cent of the base. In 2023-24 exits at 5 to 19 employees exceeded entries at that size in both councils, 196 against 121 on the Sunshine Coast and 49 against 22 in Noosa. A business of that size is bought far more often than it is started.

The local friction

Three assessment regimes sit inside one trading region, and one approval sits outside all of them. Sunshine Coast Regional Council runs the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014, Noosa Shire Council runs the Noosa Plan 2020, and the Maroochydore City Centre, Caloundra South and Halls Creek priority development areas are assessed by Economic Development Queensland. Unitywater, not a council, issues trade waste permits for both council areas and states that permits are not transferable and that there are no refunds. Noosa requires a fresh food business licence application for a takeover, lodged at least 30 business days before you intend to operate. Sunshine Coast Council advises that property searches may take 15 to 20 business days.

What decides the price

Which side of the seasonal cycle your revenue sits on, and whether the business runs without you. In Noosa roughly one employee job in six was hospitality in 2021-22, so a cleaner, a refrigeration mechanic or a bookkeeper carries the tourism cycle through the customer base whether they intend to or not. On the Sunshine Coast the ballast is health care, 43,445 employee jobs in 2021-22, 15.8 per cent of employee jobs and 14,704 more than the next largest division. Then owner dependence, because the labour pool is genuinely thin. The Noosa participation rate at the 2021 Census was 53.0 per cent, median employee income was $45,750 in 2021-22, and the median established house transfer price in 2024 was $1,300,000.