Suburb Overview
Meadow Heights is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 14,890, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 18 km from the Melbourne CBD, Meadow Heights is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $66,248 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3048
Postcode for Meadow Heights, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
14,890
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$346/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
$66,248
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
18 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
$612,500
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Median unit price
$455,000
Median unit sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,460/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
78% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in Meadow Heights
- Middle-ring location about 18 km from Melbourne — balance of commute and affordability.
- Several schools in the area (around 4), attractive for families.
- Good green-space access with around 6 parks and reserves nearby.
- Reasonable transport access — car-friendly with some public transport options.
- Predominantly separate houses (78%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
Who Meadow Heights Suits
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Mortgage costs are lower than the Victoria median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Access to several schools nearby (around 4).
- Local parks and reserves (around 6) add to liveability.
- Solid transport links into employment hubs.
Cons
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
- Prices may rise further as demand continues.
Investment Insight
With 14,890 residents, Meadow Heights 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. Meadow Heights's median household income of $66,248/year is 30% below the Victoria suburb median ($95,160) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. At the 2021 Census, median weekly rent of $346 equated to $1,499/month — about 103% of the then-median mortgage repayment of $1,460/month. Both figures have moved substantially since 2021, so treat the ratio as a historical signal that this suburb leaned cash-flow-friendly, and verify against current listings and rates. 18 km from Melbourne places Meadow Heights in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Investment Tip
This suburb suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 27% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Meadow Heights vs Victoria Median
How Meadow Heights stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Meadow Heights sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Meadow Heights | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 14,890 | 7,416 | +101% |
| Median household income | $66,248/yr | $95,160/yr | -30% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $346 | $380 | -9% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,460 | $1,950 | -25% |
| Distance to CBD | 18 km | 32 km | -44% |
| Separate houses | 78% | 78% | 0pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Meadow Heights — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 14,890 residents — 201% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $66,248/year (-30% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $346/week rent (≈ $1,499/month) covered ~103% of the $1,460/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 18 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 78% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$146/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,460/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 27% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 30% below the VIC median ($66,248 vs $95,160) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $346/week (~$1,499/month) covered 103% of the $1,460/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $0/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 78% houses in a 14,890-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Risk Factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,460/month median mortgage in Meadow Heights means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $146/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Meadow Heights are 30% below the Victoria median ($66,248 vs $95,160), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Meadow Heights regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Meadow Heights with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
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Start your first-home journey →2026 Outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Meadow Heights are modest for 2026 — incomes 30% below the VIC median of $95,160 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~103% of the typical mortgage ($1,499/month rent vs $1,460/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Meadow Heights is balanced heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Victoria median.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Meadow Heights a good suburb for investment?
Whether Meadow Heights suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 14,890, a median household income of $66,248/year and median weekly rent of $346. 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 Meadow Heights?
The main demand drivers in Meadow Heights are proximity to Melbourne (18 km), a median household income of $66,248/year, a dwelling mix that is 78% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Meadow Heights?
Meadow Heights has a usual resident population of approximately 14,890, 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 Meadow Heights from the Melbourne CBD?
Meadow Heights sits 18 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
What is the median rent in Meadow Heights?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $346 in Meadow Heights, equating to approximately $17,992/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 Meadow Heights?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Meadow Heights is $1,460, or approximately $17,520/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 Meadow Heights cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $346 works out to $1,499/month, covering 103% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,460/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $39/month, so on these numbers Meadow Heights leans cash-flow-positive before accounting for strata, council rates, insurance and maintenance. 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 Meadow Heights?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,460 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($66,248 vs $95,160 state median), 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 Meadow Heights 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.