Free full calculator →
Suburb Insights · VIC 3184

Elwood, VIC 3184 Property Profile

ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026

Suburb Overview

Elwood is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 15,153, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 8 km from the Melbourne CBD, Elwood is a outer metro area in Victoria. The median household income is $108,992 per year.

Investment Score

76 / 100 Good

Strong household incomes in Elwood underpin solid property demand. Close CBD access strengthens tenant appeal and resale value.

Location

Melbourne
Elwood
Victoria · 3184
8 km from Melbourne CBD
View on Google Maps ↗

Key Indicators

Postcode
3184

Official Australia Post postcode for Elwood. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.

Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
15,153

Usual resident population at the most recent census.

Median weekly rent
$415/wk

Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.

Median household income
$108,992/yr

Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.

Distance to CBD
8 km

Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.

Lifestyle & Amenities

Schools nearby
4

Estimated 4 schools within or near this suburb.

Find schools near Elwood on My School →
Parks & green spaces
6

Estimated 6 parks and green spaces near this suburb.

Median monthly mortgage
$2,300/mo

Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.

Home type
12% houses

Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.

Why People Like Living in Elwood

Who Elwood Suits

👨‍👩‍👧FamiliesSchool count or dwelling mix is lighter here.
📊InvestorsRental coverage trails the state average.
🏡First-home buyersPrices sit above the Victoria median — stretch goal.
💼ProfessionalsAround 8 km from the CBD with good access.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
  • Access to several schools nearby (around 4).
  • Local parks and reserves (around 6) add to liveability.
  • Solid transport links into employment hubs.
  • Short distance to the CBD makes commuting straightforward.

Cons

  • Median mortgage sits above the Victoria state median — entry costs are stretched.
  • Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.

Investment Insight

With 15,153 residents, Elwood is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 2.0× 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. Median household income of $108,992/year runs 15% 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 $415/week (78% coverage of the $2,300/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $502/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 8 km from the Melbourne CBD, Elwood sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 12% 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. Local rents consume roughly 20% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.

Elwood vs Victoria Median

How Elwood stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Elwood sits above the state median; negative means below.

MetricElwoodVIC medianΔ vs state
Population15,1537,416+104%
Median household income$108,992/yr$95,160/yr+15%
Median rent (weekly)$415$380+9%
Median mortgage (monthly)$2,300$1,950+18%
Distance to CBD8 km32 km-75%
Separate houses12%78%-66pp

Investor Checklist

Pre-inspection briefing for Elwood — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.

Investment Strategy

Buy & Hold

Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 15,153 and household income close to the VIC median ($108,992 vs $95,160) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.

⚠️
Rental Yield

Moderate rental coverage: rent of $415/week covers 78% of a $2,300/month mortgage, leaving a $502/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.

Renovation / Flip

Only 12% 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

Run the numbers on a Elwood property

Full Property Analysis

30-year projections for Elwood

Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.

Create free account →
Or jump straight to a calculator: Loan Serviceability First Home Buyer Grants

2026 Outlook

Growth: Moderate Rental Demand: Moderate Investor Sentiment: Strong

Property values in Elwood should track the wider Victoria market through 2026, with the $108,992/year median household income (15% above the $95,160 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. Rental coverage runs at ~78% of the typical mortgage ($1,798/month rent vs $2,300/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 76/100 places Elwood in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.

Share your experience of Elwood

Lived in Elwood? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Elwood a good suburb for investment?

Elwood scores 76/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 15,153, median household income of $108,992/year and median weekly rent of $415. 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.

What drives property demand in Elwood?

The main demand drivers in Elwood are proximity to Melbourne (8 km), an above-state-median household income of $108,992/year, a dwelling mix that is 12% separate houses, roughly 4 schools and 6 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.

What is the population of Elwood?

Elwood has a usual resident population of approximately 15,153, 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 Elwood from the Melbourne CBD?

Elwood sits 8 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Melbourne employment nodes.

What is the median rent in Elwood?

The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $415 in Elwood, equating to approximately $21,580/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 Elwood?

The median monthly mortgage repayment in Elwood is $2,300, or approximately $27,600/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 Elwood cash-flow positive for investors?

A median weekly rent of $415 works out to $1,798/month, covering 78% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,300/month. That leaves a $502/month shortfall (around $6,024/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 Elwood?

The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,300 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (12% 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 Elwood profile

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.

Nearby Suburbs

Victoria Property Resources