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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Dinner Plain is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 128, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 222 km from the Melbourne CBD, Dinner Plain is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $117,000 per year.
Dinner Plain benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing. Regional positioning means lower entry costs but potentially longer hold periods for capital gains.
Official Australia Post postcode for Dinner Plain. 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 Dinner Plain 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.
Dinner Plain is a smaller community of 128 — about 2% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $117,000/year runs 23% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Rent of $269/week (80% coverage of the $1,452/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $286/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. Dinner Plain is 222 km from Melbourne, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 31% 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.
How Dinner Plain stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Dinner Plain sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Dinner Plain | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 128 | 7,416 | -98% |
| Median household income | $117,000/yr | $95,160/yr | +23% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $269 | $380 | -29% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,452 | $1,950 | -26% |
| Distance to CBD | 222 km | 32 km | +594% |
| Separate houses | 31% | 78% | -47pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Dinner Plain — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 128 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $269/week covers 80% of a $1,452/month mortgage, leaving a $286/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 31% 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.
Run the numbers on a Dinner Plain property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Dinner Plain are modest for 2026 — incomes 23% above the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 128 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~80% of the typical mortgage ($1,166/month rent vs $1,452/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 48/100 places Dinner Plain 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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Dinner Plain scores 48/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 128, median household income of $117,000/year and median weekly rent of $269. 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 Dinner Plain are an above-state-median household income of $117,000/year, a dwelling mix that is 31% 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.
Dinner Plain has a usual resident population of approximately 128, 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.
Dinner Plain sits 222 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.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $269 in Dinner Plain, equating to approximately $13,988/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.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Dinner Plain is $1,452, or approximately $17,424/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.
A median weekly rent of $269 works out to $1,166/month, covering 80% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,452/month. That leaves a $286/month shortfall (around $3,432/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.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (128 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,452 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (31% 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.
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.