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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Malvern East is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 22,296, making it a sizeable community. Located approximately 11 km from the Melbourne CBD, Malvern East is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $123,916 per year.
Malvern East benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Malvern East. 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 6 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Malvern East on My School →Estimated 9 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 22,296 residents, Malvern East is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 3.0× 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 $123,916/year runs 30% 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. Median rent of $421/week (~$1,824/month) covers only 62% of the median mortgage of $2,944/month — the remaining $1,120/month must be funded from other income, so this suburb tilts toward capital growth rather than yield. 11 km from Melbourne places Malvern East in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs. Only 46% 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.
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. Local rents consume roughly 18% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Malvern East stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Malvern East sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Malvern East | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 22,296 | 7,416 | +201% |
| Median household income | $123,916/yr | $95,160/yr | +30% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $421 | $380 | +11% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,944 | $1,950 | +51% |
| Distance to CBD | 11 km | 32 km | -66% |
| Separate houses | 46% | 78% | -32pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Malvern East — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 30% above the Victoria suburb median ($123,916 vs $95,160), and the 11 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.
Weak cash flow: $421/week rent covers only 62% of the $2,944/month median mortgage — a $1,120/month gap that must be funded from other income. This suburb is a capital-growth play, not a yield play.
Only 46% 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 Malvern East property
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Create free account →Malvern East enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 30% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160 and a population of 22,296 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider VIC market over the next 12–18 months. Rental coverage runs at ~62% of the typical mortgage ($1,824/month rent vs $2,944/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 84/100 places Malvern East in the top tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
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Malvern East scores 84/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a strong rating. That score is driven by a population of 22,296, median household income of $123,916/year and median weekly rent of $421. 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 Malvern East are proximity to Melbourne (11 km), an above-state-median household income of $123,916/year, a dwelling mix that is 46% separate houses, roughly 6 schools and 9 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.
Malvern East has a usual resident population of approximately 22,296, 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.
Malvern East sits 11 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 $421 in Malvern East, equating to approximately $21,892/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 Malvern East is $2,944, or approximately $35,328/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 $421 works out to $1,824/month, covering 62% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,944/month. That leaves a $1,120/month shortfall (around $13,440/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 $2,944 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.