Suburb Overview
Dandenong is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 30,127, making it a sizeable community. Located approximately 29 km from the Melbourne CBD, Dandenong is a outer metro area in Victoria. The median household income is $65,884 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3175
Postcode for Dandenong, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
30,127
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$319/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
$65,884
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
29 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
$740,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Median unit price
$395,000
Median unit sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,517/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
37% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in Dandenong
- Family-friendly fringe location — around 29 km from Melbourne.
- Plenty of schooling options nearby — around 8 schools within reach.
- Good green-space access with around 12 parks and reserves nearby.
- Well-serviced by public transport and major roads.
- Newer estates with modern homes and family-sized blocks.
Who Dandenong 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.
- Access to several schools nearby (around 8).
- Local parks and reserves (around 12) add to liveability.
- Solid transport links into employment hubs.
Cons
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
- Prices may rise further as demand continues.
Investment Insight
With 30,127 residents, Dandenong is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 4.1× the state median of 7,416 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Dandenong's median household income of $65,884/year is 31% 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, median weekly rent of $319 equated to $1,382/month — about 91% of the then-median mortgage repayment of $1,517/month. Both figures have moved substantially since 2021, so treat the ratio as a historical signal that this suburb leaned cash-flow-friendly, and verify against current listings and rates. At 29 km from Melbourne, Dandenong is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price. Only 37% 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
Outer-metro suburbs reward careful property selection — aim for homes near infrastructure rather than generic house-and-land packages. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 25% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Dandenong vs Victoria Median
How Dandenong stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Dandenong sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Dandenong | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 30,127 | 7,416 | +306% |
| Median household income | $65,884/yr | $95,160/yr | -31% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $319 | $380 | -16% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,517 | $1,950 | -22% |
| Distance to CBD | 29 km | 32 km | -9% |
| Separate houses | 37% | 78% | -41pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Dandenong — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 30,127 residents — 406% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $65,884/year (-31% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $319/week rent (≈ $1,382/month) covered ~91% of the $1,517/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 29 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 37% separate houses — unit-heavy market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$152/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,517/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 25% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 31% below the VIC median ($65,884 vs $95,160) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $319/week (~$1,382/month) covered 91% of the $1,517/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $135/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
Only 37% 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 $1,517/month median mortgage in Dandenong means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $152/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Dandenong are 31% below the Victoria median ($65,884 vs $95,160), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Dandenong is 29 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.
- Strata exposure: only 37% of dwellings in Dandenong are separate houses, so most investment stock is apartments or townhouses subject to body-corporate fees, sinking-fund levies and competing supply from new developments.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Dandenong regardless of local market conditions.
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Start your first-home journey →2026 Outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Dandenong are modest for 2026 — incomes 31% below the VIC median of $95,160 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~91% of the typical mortgage ($1,382/month rent vs $1,517/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Dandenong 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 Dandenong a good suburb for investment?
Whether Dandenong suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 30,127, a median household income of $65,884/year and median weekly rent of $319. 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 Dandenong?
The main demand drivers in Dandenong are a median household income of $65,884/year, a dwelling mix that is 37% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Dandenong?
Dandenong has a usual resident population of approximately 30,127, compared with a Victoria suburb median of 7,416 — placing it in the upper 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 Dandenong from the Melbourne CBD?
Dandenong sits 29 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is an outer-metro location; local employment and infrastructure announcements tend to move prices more than CBD connectivity alone.
What is the median rent in Dandenong?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $319 in Dandenong, equating to approximately $16,588/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 Dandenong?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Dandenong is $1,517, or approximately $18,204/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 Dandenong cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $319 works out to $1,382/month, covering 91% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,517/month. That leaves a $135/month shortfall (around $1,620/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 Dandenong?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,517 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($65,884 vs $95,160 state median), a unit-heavy dwelling mix (37% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, 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 Dandenong 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.