Suburb Overview
Albion is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 4,334, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 14 km from the Melbourne CBD, Albion is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $68,120 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3020
Postcode for Albion, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
4,334
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$301/wk
Median weekly rent recorded at the 2021 Census — market rents have risen since, so treat this as a dated baseline, not a current figure.
Median household income
$68,120
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
14 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Sale prices & yield
Median house price
$739,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Median unit price
$281,000
Median unit sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,700/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
47% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in Albion
- Middle-ring location about 14 km from Melbourne — balance of commute and affordability.
- Local parks and reserves (around 2) within easy reach.
- Reasonable transport access — car-friendly with some public transport options.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Albion Suits
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Mortgage costs are lower than the Victoria median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Solid transport links into employment hubs.
Cons
- Fewer schools inside the suburb itself — verify catchments for neighbouring areas.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment Insight
Albion is a smaller community of 4,334 — about 58% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Albion's median household income of $68,120/year is 28% below the Victoria suburb median ($95,160) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. At the 2021 Census, rent of $301/week covered 77% of the $1,700/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, leaving a gap of roughly $396/month at the time. Rents and repayments have both risen since — re-run the numbers with current figures before drawing conclusions. 14 km from Melbourne places Albion in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs. Only 47% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 78% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
Investment Tip
This suburb suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 23% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Albion vs Victoria Median
How Albion stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Albion sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Albion | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 4,334 | 7,416 | -42% |
| Median household income | $68,120/yr | $95,160/yr | -28% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $301 | $380 | -21% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,700 | $1,950 | -13% |
| Distance to CBD | 14 km | 32 km | -56% |
| Separate houses | 47% | 78% | -31pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Albion — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 4,334 residents — 58% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $68,120/year (-28% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $301/week rent (≈ $1,304/month) covered ~77% of the $1,700/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 14 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 47% separate houses — mixed market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$170/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,700/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 23% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 28% below the VIC median ($68,120 vs $95,160) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $301/week covered 77% of a $1,700/month mortgage, a $396/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
Only 47% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 78% VIC median) — this is a unit and townhouse market, where cosmetic flips struggle against body-corporate restrictions, thinner after-reno uplift and competing new supply.
Risk Factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,700/month median mortgage in Albion means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $170/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Albion are 28% below the Victoria median ($68,120 vs $95,160), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 4,334 residents, Albion has a thinner pool of buyers and tenants than larger suburbs. Expect longer days-on-market on resale and budget for potential vacancy gaps between tenancies.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Albion regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Albion with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
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Start your first-home journey →2026 Outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Albion are modest for 2026 — incomes 28% below the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 4,334 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~77% of the typical mortgage ($1,304/month rent vs $1,700/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Albion is balanced heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Victoria median.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Albion a good suburb for investment?
Whether Albion suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 4,334, a median household income of $68,120/year and median weekly rent of $301. Weigh those against your goal — cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — each of which we break down with suburb-specific ABS numbers elsewhere on this page.
What drives property demand in Albion?
The main demand drivers in Albion are proximity to Melbourne (14 km), a median household income of $68,120/year, a dwelling mix that is 47% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Albion?
Albion has a usual resident population of approximately 4,334, compared with a Victoria suburb median of 7,416 — 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.
How far is Albion from the Melbourne CBD?
Albion sits 14 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
What is the median rent in Albion?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $301 in Albion, equating to approximately $15,652/year in gross rental income (state median $380/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
What is the typical mortgage repayment in Albion?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Albion is $1,700, or approximately $20,400/year (vs $1,950/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.
Is Albion cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $301 works out to $1,304/month, covering 77% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,700/month. That leaves a $396/month shortfall (around $4,752/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.
What are the main risks of investing in Albion?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (4,334 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,700 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($68,120 vs $95,160 state median), the broader Victoria market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
How we built this Albion profile
The population, postcode, median household income, and dwelling mix on this page are real figures from the ABS 2021 Census (income is the ABS median weekly household income annualised) and Australia Post. Distance to the CBD is calculated from the suburb's ABS centroid. The Census median rent and mortgage repayment are 2021 figures and are clearly labelled as such wherever they appear — they are five years old and have moved substantially since. We do not publish an investment score or school/park counts for this suburb. See our methodology and data sources for exactly what's measured and what's estimated.