Suburb Overview
Bulla is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 668, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 25 km from the Melbourne CBD, Bulla is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $90,376 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3428
Postcode for Bulla, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
668
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$348/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
$90,376
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
25 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,100/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
92% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Investment Insight
Bulla is a smaller community of 668 — about 9% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. At $90,376/year, household income in Bulla is within 5% of the Victoria median ($95,160), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. At the 2021 Census, rent of $348/week covered 72% of the $2,100/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, leaving a gap of roughly $592/month at the time. Rents and repayments have both risen since — re-run the numbers with current figures before drawing conclusions. 25 km from Melbourne places Bulla in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Bulla vs Victoria Median
How Bulla stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Bulla sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Bulla | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 668 | 7,416 | -91% |
| Median household income | $90,376/yr | $95,160/yr | -5% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $348 | $380 | -8% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,100 | $1,950 | +8% |
| Distance to CBD | 25 km | 32 km | -22% |
| Separate houses | 92% | 78% | +14pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Bulla — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 668 residents — 9% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $90,376/year (-5% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $348/week rent (≈ $1,508/month) covered ~72% of the $2,100/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 25 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 92% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$210/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,100/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 20% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 668 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 $348/week covered 72% of a $2,100/month mortgage, a $592/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
With 92% houses in a 668-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 $2,100/month median mortgage in Bulla means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $210/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 668 residents, Bulla 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.
- Bulla is 25 km from the CBD — not close enough to benefit from the inner-ring pricing halo, so growth depends more heavily on local infrastructure decisions and the wider Victoria market cycle.
- House-dominant stock: 92% of dwellings are separate houses, so value is concentrated in land — weather events, insurance repricing and land-tax changes hit investors here more directly than in a unit-heavy suburb.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Bulla regardless of local market conditions.
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Start your first-home journey →2026 Outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Bulla are modest for 2026 — incomes 5% below the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 668 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~72% of the typical mortgage ($1,508/month rent vs $2,100/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Bulla 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 Bulla a good suburb for investment?
Whether Bulla suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 668, a median household income of $90,376/year and median weekly rent of $348. 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 Bulla?
The main demand drivers in Bulla are proximity to Melbourne (25 km), a median household income of $90,376/year, a dwelling mix that is 92% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Bulla?
Bulla has a usual resident population of approximately 668, 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 Bulla from the Melbourne CBD?
Bulla sits 25 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 Bulla?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $348 in Bulla, equating to approximately $18,096/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 Bulla?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Bulla is $2,100, or approximately $25,200/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 Bulla cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $348 works out to $1,508/month, covering 72% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,100/month. That leaves a $592/month shortfall (around $7,104/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 Bulla?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (668 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,100 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 Bulla 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.