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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Balmain East is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Sydney, Australia, with a population of approximately 1,900, making it a boutique locality. Located 2 km from the Sydney CBD, Balmain East is a middle ring area in New South Wales. The median household income is $157,040 per year.
Balmain East benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Balmain East. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Balmain East on My School →Estimated 1 park and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Balmain East is a smaller community of 1,900 — about 36% of the New South Wales suburb median (5,325) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $157,040/year runs 61% above the New South Wales suburb median of $97,552, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Median rent of $617/week (~$2,674/month) covers only 62% of the median mortgage of $4,333/month — the remaining $1,659/month must be funded from other income, so this suburb tilts toward capital growth rather than yield. At 2 km from the Sydney CBD, Balmain East sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 13% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 76% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
How Balmain East stacks up against the median of all New South Wales suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Balmain East sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Balmain East | NSW median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,900 | 5,325 | -64% |
| Median household income | $157,040/yr | $97,552/yr | +61% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $617 | $430 | +43% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $4,333 | $2,167 | +100% |
| Distance to CBD | 2 km | 45 km | -96% |
| Separate houses | 13% | 76% | -63pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Balmain East — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 61% above the New South Wales suburb median ($157,040 vs $97,552), and the 2 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In New South Wales, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Weak cash flow: $617/week rent covers only 62% of the $4,333/month median mortgage — a $1,659/month gap that must be funded from other income. This suburb is a capital-growth play, not a yield play.
Only 13% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 76% NSW median) — this is a unit and townhouse market, where cosmetic flips struggle against body-corporate restrictions, thinner after-reno uplift and competing new supply.
Run the numbers on a Balmain East property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Balmain East enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 61% above the New South Wales suburb median of $97,552 and a population of 1,900 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider NSW market over the next 12–18 months. Rental coverage runs at ~62% of the typical mortgage ($2,674/month rent vs $4,333/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 78/100 places Balmain East in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
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Balmain East scores 78/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 1,900, median household income of $157,040/year and median weekly rent of $617. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Balmain East are proximity to Sydney (2 km), an above-state-median household income of $157,040/year, a dwelling mix that is 13% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Balmain East has a usual resident population of approximately 1,900, compared with a New South Wales suburb median of 5,325 — placing it in the lower half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
Balmain East sits 2 km straight-line from the Sydney CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Sydney employment nodes.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $617 in Balmain East, equating to approximately $32,084/year in gross rental income (state median $430/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Balmain East is $4,333, or approximately $51,996/year (vs $2,167/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
A median weekly rent of $617 works out to $2,674/month, covering 62% of the median mortgage repayment of $4,333/month. That leaves a $1,659/month shortfall (around $19,908/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (1,900 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $4,333 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (13% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, the broader New South Wales market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.