Tracey and Andrew Barnes and their son Riley 16 at their Edge Hill home which is being auctioned on the weekend . PICTURE: ANNA ROGERS

CAFES, cute cottages and mountain climbs – Edge Hill has it all, and doesn’t everyone know it.

The leafy suburb on the edge of Mt Whitfield Conservation Park and Cairns Botanic Gardens tops the list of most viewed properties on realestate.com.au for the six months to June 30.

Edge Hill houses attracted an average of 2202 views on the website, while apartments in the suburb recorded 902 views.

Houses in neighbouring Whitfield (1567) were the second most popular and Brinsmead came in third (1559). For apartments, Freshwater (655) and Parramatta Park (535) rounded out the top three.

The popularity of Edge Hill came as no surprise to LJ Hooker Cairns Edge Hill principal Ross Moller.

“There are more units than you might realise in Edge Hill and a fair number have sold recently,” he said. “Being close to CBD, airport and the cafes all help. It is also in the Cairns High (School) catchment.”

Interestingly, Cairns’ beach suburbs were not highly represented in the data. “There are two choices: close to CBD or close to the beach. Maybe it is the trend to be close to CBD?” Mr Moller said.

The tightly held nature of Edge Hill, Whitfield and Freshwater properties is why those suburbs attracted plenty of views, said REIQ Far North zone chairman Tom Quaid.

“The beaches being physically larger and newer suburbs tend to have more options, so while they might have more eyeballs overall, that number is split between a greater number of individual listings,” he said.

“And as to Edge Hill apartments, I have heard buyers say a few times, ‘(it is) five minutes to town and you can walk to Noa in the evening and work it off at the Red Arrow in the morning, what more could you want?’. So there is good demand for those few that do become available.”

Thomas Baldwin agent Morganne Baldwin owns an Edge Hill property which she also runs as a partial Airbnb rental. “I truly believe the reason why people flock to live in Edge Hill is the community vibe,” she said.

HOUSES (views per listing)

Edge Hill2202

Whitfield1567

Brinsmead1559

Bayview Heights1310

Kanimbla1248

Redlynch1187

Palm Cove1185

Holloways Beach1176

Mooroobool1107

Clifton Beach1002

APARTMENTS

Edge Hill902

Freshwater655

Parramatta Park535

Cairns North530

Trinity Beach529

Cairns City522

Holloways Beach500

Palm Cove472

Edmonton428

Redlynch406