Suburb Overview
Brown Hill is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 4,489, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 97 km from the Melbourne CBD, Brown Hill is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $91,364 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3350
Postcode for Brown Hill, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
4,489
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$290/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
$91,364
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
97 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
$577,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Median unit price
$360,000
Median unit sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,619/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
83% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in Brown Hill
- Regional location about 97 km from Melbourne.
- Local parks and reserves (around 2) within easy reach.
- Strong transport links into the city and nearby employment hubs.
- Predominantly separate houses (83%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who Brown Hill 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
- Long distance to the CBD (97 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Fewer schools inside the suburb itself — verify catchments for neighbouring areas.
Investment Insight
Brown Hill is a smaller community of 4,489 — about 61% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. At $91,364/year, household income in Brown Hill is within 4% of the Victoria median ($95,160), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. At the 2021 Census, rent of $290/week covered 78% of the $1,619/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, leaving a gap of roughly $362/month at the time. Rents and repayments have both risen since — re-run the numbers with current figures before drawing conclusions. Brown Hill is 97 km from Melbourne, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
Investment Tip
This suburb suits yield-focused investors who are comfortable with lower liquidity. Employment concentration and local population trends matter more here than in metro markets. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 17% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Brown Hill vs Victoria Median
How Brown Hill stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Brown Hill sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Brown Hill | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 4,489 | 7,416 | -39% |
| Median household income | $91,364/yr | $95,160/yr | -4% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $290 | $380 | -24% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,619 | $1,950 | -17% |
| Distance to CBD | 97 km | 32 km | +203% |
| Separate houses | 83% | 78% | +5pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Brown Hill — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 4,489 residents — 61% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $91,364/year (-4% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $290/week rent (≈ $1,257/month) covered ~78% of the $1,619/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 97 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 83% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$162/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,619/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 17% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Brown Hill's 4,489-person market and $91,364 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $290/week covered 78% of a $1,619/month mortgage, a $362/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
With 83% houses in a 4,489-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Risk Factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,619/month median mortgage in Brown Hill means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $162/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 4,489 residents, Brown Hill 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.
- Commute distance: at 97 km from the nearest CBD, Brown Hill depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Brown Hill regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Brown Hill 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 Brown Hill are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 4,489 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~78% of the typical mortgage ($1,257/month rent vs $1,619/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Brown Hill is cautious 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 Brown Hill a good suburb for investment?
Whether Brown Hill suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 4,489, a median household income of $91,364/year and median weekly rent of $290. 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 Brown Hill?
The main demand drivers in Brown Hill are a median household income of $91,364/year, a dwelling mix that is 83% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Brown Hill?
Brown Hill has a usual resident population of approximately 4,489, 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 Brown Hill from the Melbourne CBD?
Brown Hill sits 97 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.
What is the median rent in Brown Hill?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $290 in Brown Hill, equating to approximately $15,080/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 Brown Hill?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Brown Hill is $1,619, or approximately $19,428/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 Brown Hill cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $290 works out to $1,257/month, covering 78% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,619/month. That leaves a $362/month shortfall (around $4,344/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 Brown Hill?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (4,489 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,619 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.
How we built this Brown Hill 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.