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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Forest Hill is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 10,780, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 19 km from the Melbourne CBD, Forest Hill is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $86,216 per year.
Forest Hill has a solid income profile that supports reliable occupancy rates.
Official Australia Post postcode for Forest Hill. 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 3 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Forest Hill on My School →Estimated 4 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.
Forest Hill's population of 10,780 sits 45% above the Victoria suburb median of 7,416, giving it a wider tenant and buyer catchment than the average VIC locality. Household income of $86,216/year is 9% below the Victoria median of $95,160, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Rent of $396/week (81% coverage of the $2,123/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $407/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. 19 km from Melbourne places Forest Hill in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. Local rents consume roughly 24% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Forest Hill stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Forest Hill sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Forest Hill | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 10,780 | 7,416 | +45% |
| Median household income | $86,216/yr | $95,160/yr | -9% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $396 | $380 | +4% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,123 | $1,950 | +9% |
| Distance to CBD | 19 km | 32 km | -41% |
| Separate houses | 67% | 78% | -11pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Forest Hill — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Forest Hill's 10,780-person market and $86,216 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $396/week covers 81% of a $2,123/month mortgage, leaving a $407/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 67% 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 Forest Hill property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Property values in Forest Hill should track the wider Victoria market through 2026, with the $86,216/year median household income (9% below the $95,160 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. Rental coverage runs at ~81% of the typical mortgage ($1,716/month rent vs $2,123/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 63/100 places Forest Hill 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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Forest Hill scores 63/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 10,780, median household income of $86,216/year and median weekly rent of $396. 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 Forest Hill are proximity to Melbourne (19 km), a median household income of $86,216/year, a dwelling mix that is 67% separate houses, roughly 3 schools and 4 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.
Forest Hill has a usual resident population of approximately 10,780, 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.
Forest Hill sits 19 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $396 in Forest Hill, equating to approximately $20,592/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 Forest Hill is $2,123, or approximately $25,476/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 $396 works out to $1,716/month, covering 81% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,123/month. That leaves a $407/month shortfall (around $4,884/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 $2,123 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.