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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Barkstead is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 41, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 85 km from the Melbourne CBD, Barkstead is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $90,948 per year.
Above-average earnings in Barkstead support sustained property values. As a regional location, growth prospects depend on local economic conditions and infrastructure investment.
Official Australia Post postcode for Barkstead. 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 Barkstead 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.
Barkstead is a smaller community of 41 — about 1% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. At $90,948/year, household income in Barkstead is within 4% of the Victoria median ($95,160), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Barkstead is 85 km from Melbourne, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
How Barkstead stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Barkstead sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Barkstead | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 41 | 7,416 | -99% |
| Median household income | $90,948/yr | $95,160/yr | -4% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,550 | $1,950 | -21% |
| Distance to CBD | 85 km | 32 km | +166% |
| Separate houses | 86% | 78% | +8pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Barkstead — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 41 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Median rental data was not captured for Barkstead. Use current realestate.com.au and Domain listings to triangulate a realistic weekly rent before committing, then feed that number into our rental yield calculator.
With 86% houses in a 41-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Barkstead property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Barkstead are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 41 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental fundamentals will need to be verified against live listings, as a clean median rent was not recorded for Barkstead. The EquitySight investment score of 42/100 places Barkstead in the mid tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is cautious heading into the second half of 2026.
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Barkstead scores 42/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 41, median household income of $90,948/year. 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 Barkstead are a median household income of $90,948/year, a dwelling mix that is 86% 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.
Barkstead has a usual resident population of approximately 41, 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.
Barkstead sits 85 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
A reliable median rent was not captured for Barkstead. Benchmark expected weekly rent on realestate.com.au and Domain, or the state rental tribunal's rent dashboard. Most Australian investors target a 4–5% gross yield as a baseline.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Barkstead is $1,550, or approximately $18,600/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.
Census data was not complete enough in Barkstead to compute a clean rent-to-mortgage coverage. Use current listings to benchmark weekly rent, then plug your expected purchase price into our rental yield calculator to see whether the investment runs cash-flow positive or negative.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (41 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,550 median mortgage, the broader Victoria 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.