Broome

Lifestyle & dining

Life in Broome revolves around the coast and the climate. Cable Beach, just next door, delivers the postcard moments — camel trains at sunset, turquoise water and the famous staircase to the moon on the right tides — while the town centre around Chinatown keeps a slower, tropical pace with pearl showrooms, cafes and a handful of long-running local institutions. Markets, outdoor cinemas and fishing trips are as much a part of the social calendar here as any restaurant strip, and the pace of life tends to draw people who want space, warmth and a strong outdoor culture over inner-city convenience.

Shopping & amenities

Broome functions as the retail and service centre for the wider Kimberley, so residents aren't short of everyday options, from the Chinatown precinct to the Boulevard Shopping Centre and supermarkets serving the town and surrounding communities. It's a genuine base rather than a satellite suburb, with health, government and trade services that many remote WA towns simply don't have on their doorstep.

Getting around

Broome International Airport connects the town to Perth and other centres, which matters given the distance from the capital, and the Great Northern Highway is the main overland link south. Locally, the town is compact enough that many residents get around by car or bike between the town centre, Cable Beach and neighbouring Djugun and Bilingurr, though the spread-out nature of the area means a vehicle is genuinely useful rather than optional.

Schools & families

Families are well catered for locally, with Broome Primary School, Broome North Primary School, Cable Beach Primary School and Roebuck Primary School offering public options across the town and its surrounds, alongside St Mary's College's primary campus for a Catholic education pathway. Broome Senior High School serves as the public secondary option, giving families a full schooling pathway without needing to leave town — a meaningful drawcard given how remote the next-nearest major centre is.

Parks & recreation

The natural environment is Broome's biggest recreational asset. Cable Beach's 22 kilometres of white sand is the obvious highlight, but there's also Roebuck Bay, known for its birdlife and fishing, plus the town's parks and ovals that support a strong community sport scene. Four-wheel driving, fishing and boating are woven into everyday life here in a way that's hard to replicate in a capital city suburb.

The property market

Broome's housing market reflects its role as a self-contained regional centre rather than a commuter suburb. The median house price sits at $655,000, having climbed 14.4% recently, while units and apartments carry a median of $418,000 — a meaningful gap that points to genuine demand for standalone homes with space. Median rent across the market is $950 a week, a figure shaped by the town's reliance on transient workers, tourism staff and FIFO-style arrangements that keep rental demand firm.

Current listings show houses make up 53% of stock, with apartments and units at 27%, land at 11% and townhouses the remaining 9%. That mix suggests buyers have reasonable choice across the spectrum, from house-and-land opportunities to lower-maintenance unit living, which is useful in a market where both investors and owner-occupiers are active.