Suburb Overview
Melbourne is an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 54,941, making it a significant urban area. Located 1 km from the Melbourne CBD, Melbourne is a inner city area in Victoria. The median household income is $75,296 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3000
Postcode for Melbourne, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
54,941
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$381/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
$75,296
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
1 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Sale prices & yield
Median unit price
$493,000
Median unit sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,800/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
0% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in Melbourne
- Close to Melbourne — roughly 1 km from the CBD, ideal for city workers.
- Plenty of schooling options nearby — around 14 schools within reach.
- Good green-space access with around 22 parks and reserves nearby.
- Strong transport links into the city and nearby employment hubs.
- High-density unit mix (100% non-house dwellings) — urban, low-maintenance living.
Who Melbourne 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 14).
- Local parks and reserves (around 22) 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 54,941 residents, Melbourne is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 7.4× 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. Melbourne's median household income of $75,296/year is 21% 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 $381 equated to $1,651/month — about 92% of the then-median mortgage repayment of $1,800/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. At 1 km from the Melbourne CBD, Melbourne sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 0% 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.
Investment Tip
This suburb suits investors prioritising tenant demand over capital-cost efficiency. Rents are supported by proximity to amenities, but strata fees and entry prices can eat into yield. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 26% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Melbourne vs Victoria Median
How Melbourne stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Melbourne sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Melbourne | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 54,941 | 7,416 | +641% |
| Median household income | $75,296/yr | $95,160/yr | -21% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $381 | $380 | 0% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,800 | $1,950 | -8% |
| Distance to CBD | 1 km | 32 km | -97% |
| Separate houses | 0% | 78% | -78pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Melbourne — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 54,941 residents — 741% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $75,296/year (-21% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $381/week rent (≈ $1,651/month) covered ~92% of the $1,800/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 1 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 0% separate houses — unit-heavy market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$180/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,800/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 26% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 21% below the VIC median ($75,296 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: $381/week (~$1,651/month) covered 92% of the $1,800/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $149/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
Only 0% 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 $1,800/month median mortgage in Melbourne means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $180/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Melbourne are 21% below the Victoria median ($75,296 vs $95,160), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Strata exposure: only 0% of dwellings in Melbourne are separate houses, so most investment stock is apartments or townhouses subject to body-corporate fees, sinking-fund levies and competing supply from new developments.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Melbourne regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Melbourne 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 Melbourne are modest for 2026 — incomes 21% below the VIC median of $95,160 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~92% of the typical mortgage ($1,651/month rent vs $1,800/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Melbourne is constructive 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 Melbourne a good suburb for investment?
Whether Melbourne suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 54,941, a median household income of $75,296/year and median weekly rent of $381. 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 Melbourne?
The main demand drivers in Melbourne are proximity to Melbourne (1 km), a median household income of $75,296/year, a dwelling mix that is 0% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Melbourne?
Melbourne has a usual resident population of approximately 54,941, 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 Melbourne from the Melbourne CBD?
Melbourne sits 1 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 Melbourne?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $381 in Melbourne, equating to approximately $19,812/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 Melbourne?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Melbourne is $1,800, or approximately $21,600/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 Melbourne cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $381 works out to $1,651/month, covering 92% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,800/month. That leaves a $149/month shortfall (around $1,788/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 Melbourne?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,800 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($75,296 vs $95,160 state median), a unit-heavy dwelling mix (0% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, 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 Melbourne 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.