ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Ferntree Gully is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 27,398, making it a sizeable community. Located approximately 29 km from the Melbourne CBD, Ferntree Gully is a outer metro area in Victoria. The median household income is $92,040 per year.
Strong household incomes in Ferntree Gully underpin solid property demand.
Official Australia Post postcode for Ferntree Gully. 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 7 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Ferntree Gully on My School →Estimated 11 parks 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.
With 27,398 residents, Ferntree Gully is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 3.7× 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. At $92,040/year, household income in Ferntree Gully is within 3% of the Victoria median ($95,160), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Rent of $386/week (87% coverage of the $1,918/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $245/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 29 km from Melbourne, Ferntree Gully is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price.
Outer-metro suburbs reward careful property selection — aim for homes near infrastructure rather than generic house-and-land packages. Local rents consume roughly 22% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Ferntree Gully stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Ferntree Gully sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Ferntree Gully | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 27,398 | 7,416 | +269% |
| Median household income | $92,040/yr | $95,160/yr | -3% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $386 | $380 | +2% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,918 | $1,950 | -2% |
| Distance to CBD | 29 km | 32 km | -9% |
| Separate houses | 84% | 78% | +6pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Ferntree Gully — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 27,398 and household income close to the VIC median ($92,040 vs $95,160) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.
Strong rental coverage: $386/week (~$1,673/month) covers 87% of the $1,918/month median mortgage repayment, so the shortfall sits at just $245/month. Investors targeting positive cash flow should shortlist this suburb.
With 84% houses in a 27,398-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Ferntree Gully property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Property values in Ferntree Gully should track the wider Victoria market through 2026, with the $92,040/year median household income (close to the $95,160 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. Rental coverage runs at ~87% of the typical mortgage ($1,673/month rent vs $1,918/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 64/100 places Ferntree Gully in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
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Ferntree Gully scores 64/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 27,398, median household income of $92,040/year and median weekly rent of $386. 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 Ferntree Gully are a median household income of $92,040/year, a dwelling mix that is 84% separate houses, roughly 7 schools and 11 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.
Ferntree Gully has a usual resident population of approximately 27,398, 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.
Ferntree Gully 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.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $386 in Ferntree Gully, equating to approximately $20,072/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 Ferntree Gully is $1,918, or approximately $23,016/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 $386 works out to $1,673/month, covering 87% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,918/month. That leaves a $245/month shortfall (around $2,940/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 interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,918 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.
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.