Suburb Overview
Burnside is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 5,800, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 20 km from the Melbourne CBD, Burnside is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $97,292 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3023
Postcode for Burnside, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
5,800
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$400/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
$97,292
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
20 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
$715,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,000/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
81% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in Burnside
- Well-connected to Melbourne at ~20 km from the CBD.
- Local parks and reserves (around 2) within easy reach.
- Reasonable transport access — car-friendly with some public transport options.
- Predominantly separate houses (81%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Burnside Suits
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Solid transport links into employment hubs.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Fewer schools inside the suburb itself — verify catchments for neighbouring areas.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment Insight
Burnside is a smaller community of 5,800 — about 78% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. At $97,292/year, household income in Burnside is within 2% of the Victoria median ($95,160), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. At the 2021 Census, rent of $400/week covered 87% of the $2,000/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, leaving a gap of roughly $267/month at the time. Rents and repayments have both risen since — re-run the numbers with current figures before drawing conclusions. 20 km from Melbourne places Burnside in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Investment Tip
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 21% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Burnside vs Victoria Median
How Burnside stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Burnside sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Burnside | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 5,800 | 7,416 | -22% |
| Median household income | $97,292/yr | $95,160/yr | +2% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $400 | $380 | +5% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,000 | $1,950 | +3% |
| Distance to CBD | 20 km | 32 km | -37% |
| Separate houses | 81% | 78% | +3pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Burnside — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 5,800 residents — 78% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $97,292/year (+2% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $400/week rent (≈ $1,733/month) covered ~87% of the $2,000/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 20 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 81% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$200/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,000/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 21% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 5,800 and household income close to the VIC median ($97,292 vs $95,160) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $400/week (~$1,733/month) covered 87% of the $2,000/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $267/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 81% houses in a 5,800-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 $2,000/month median mortgage in Burnside means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $200/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Burnside regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Burnside 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
Property values in Burnside should track the wider Victoria market through 2026, with the $97,292/year median household income (close to the $95,160 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~87% of the typical mortgage ($1,733/month rent vs $2,000/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Burnside 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 Burnside a good suburb for investment?
Whether Burnside suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 5,800, a median household income of $97,292/year and median weekly rent of $400. 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 Burnside?
The main demand drivers in Burnside are proximity to Melbourne (20 km), an above-state-median household income of $97,292/year, a dwelling mix that is 81% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Burnside?
Burnside has a usual resident population of approximately 5,800, 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 Burnside from the Melbourne CBD?
Burnside sits 20 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 Burnside?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $400 in Burnside, equating to approximately $20,800/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 Burnside?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Burnside is $2,000, or approximately $24,000/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 Burnside cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $400 works out to $1,733/month, covering 87% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,000/month. That leaves a $267/month shortfall (around $3,204/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 Burnside?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,000 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 Burnside 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.