Suburb Overview
Essendon West is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 1,559, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 10 km from the Melbourne CBD, Essendon West is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $121,576 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3040
Postcode for Essendon West, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
1,559
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$450/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
$121,576
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
10 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
$1,550,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,682/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
62% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Investment Insight
Essendon West is a smaller community of 1,559 — about 21% 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 $121,576/year runs 28% 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. At the 2021 Census, rent of $450/week covered 73% of the $2,682/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, leaving a gap of roughly $732/month at the time. Rents and repayments have both risen since — re-run the numbers with current figures before drawing conclusions. At 10 km from the Melbourne CBD, Essendon West sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 62% 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.
Essendon West vs Victoria Median
How Essendon West stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Essendon West sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Essendon West | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,559 | 7,416 | -79% |
| Median household income | $121,576/yr | $95,160/yr | +28% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $450 | $380 | +18% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,682 | $1,950 | +38% |
| Distance to CBD | 10 km | 32 km | -69% |
| Separate houses | 62% | 78% | -16pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Essendon West — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 1,559 residents — 21% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $121,576/year (+28% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $450/week rent (≈ $1,950/month) covered ~73% of the $2,682/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 10 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 62% separate houses — mixed market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$268/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,682/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 19% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 28% above the Victoria suburb median ($121,576 vs $95,160), and the 10 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Victoria, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $450/week covered 73% of a $2,682/month mortgage, a $732/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
Only 62% 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 $2,682/month median mortgage in Essendon West means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $268/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Premium-pricing risk: incomes 28% above the Victoria median ($121,576 vs $95,160) correlate with elevated purchase prices and compressed gross yields — enter only with a clear capital-growth thesis and a comfortable deposit.
- Liquidity risk: with 1,559 residents, Essendon West 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.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Essendon West regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Essendon West with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
Run the numbers on a Essendon West property
Walk the journey to a place like Essendon West
Seven guided stops — government schemes compared for your exact numbers, a real budget, suburb shortlisting and every contract deadline tracked. Free, no signup to start.
Start your first-home journey →2026 Outlook
Essendon West enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 28% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160 and a population of 1,559 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider VIC market over the next 12–18 months. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~73% of the typical mortgage ($1,950/month rent vs $2,682/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Essendon West is constructive heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Victoria median.
Share your experience of Essendon West
Lived in Essendon West? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Essendon West a good suburb for investment?
Whether Essendon West suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 1,559, a median household income of $121,576/year and median weekly rent of $450. 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 Essendon West?
The main demand drivers in Essendon West are proximity to Melbourne (10 km), an above-state-median household income of $121,576/year, a dwelling mix that is 62% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Essendon West?
Essendon West has a usual resident population of approximately 1,559, 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 Essendon West from the Melbourne CBD?
Essendon West sits 10 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 Essendon West?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $450 in Essendon West, equating to approximately $23,400/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 Essendon West?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Essendon West is $2,682, or approximately $32,184/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 Essendon West cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $450 works out to $1,950/month, covering 73% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,682/month. That leaves a $732/month shortfall (around $8,784/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 Essendon West?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (1,559 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,682 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 Essendon West 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.