Suburb Overview
Mount Buffalo is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 5, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 201 km from the Melbourne CBD, Mount Buffalo is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $117,000 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3740
Postcode for Mount Buffalo, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
5
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$220/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
$117,000
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
201 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
N/A
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
N/A
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Investment Insight
Mount Buffalo is a smaller community of 5 — about 0% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $117,000/year runs 23% 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. At the 2021 Census the median weekly rent was $220 (≈ $11,440/year gross at the time). Market rents have moved substantially since 2021, so benchmark against current listings before running yield numbers. Mount Buffalo is 201 km from Melbourne, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
Mount Buffalo vs Victoria Median
How Mount Buffalo stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Mount Buffalo sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Mount Buffalo | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 5 | 7,416 | -100% |
| Median household income | $117,000/yr | $95,160/yr | +23% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $220 | $380 | -42% |
| Distance to CBD | 201 km | 32 km | +528% |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Mount Buffalo — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 5 residents — 0% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $117,000/year (+23% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Gross rental income: $220/week (2021 Census), ~$11,440/year.
- CBD access: 201 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Home mix: the housing-type split was not captured — verify on the ground.
- Rate stress-test: model your cash flow with rates 1–2 percentage points above current to ensure the investment survives a tightening cycle.
- Tenant rent burden: 10% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 5 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Gross rent of $220/week (~$11,440/year, 2021 Census) sets an indicative yield ceiling. Cross-check against current listings and your purchase price to confirm whether this suburb hits the 4–5% gross yield most Australian investors target.
With a population of 5, the resale market in Mount Buffalo may not reliably reward cosmetic renovations — a longer hold is typically a better strategy at this scale, letting land-value appreciation do the work instead.
Risk Factors
- Interest-rate movements are the dominant macro risk for Mount Buffalo — model cash flow with a 1–2 percentage-point buffer above current rates to ensure the investment survives a tightening cycle.
- Liquidity risk: with 5 residents, Mount Buffalo has a thinner pool of buyers and tenants than larger suburbs. Expect longer days-on-market on resale and budget for potential vacancy gaps between tenancies.
- Commute distance: at 201 km from the nearest CBD, Mount Buffalo depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Mount Buffalo regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Mount Buffalo with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
Run the numbers on a Mount Buffalo property
Walk the journey to a place like Mount Buffalo
Seven guided stops — government schemes compared for your exact numbers, a real budget, suburb shortlisting and every contract deadline tracked. Free, no signup to start.
Start your first-home journey →2026 Outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Mount Buffalo are modest for 2026 — incomes 23% above the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 5 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rents sit around $220/week (2021 Census), a baseline gross rental income of roughly $11,440/year — refine against current listings before running your numbers. Overall investor sentiment for Mount Buffalo is balanced heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Victoria median.
Share your experience of Mount Buffalo
Lived in Mount Buffalo? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mount Buffalo a good suburb for investment?
Whether Mount Buffalo suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 5, a median household income of $117,000/year and median weekly rent of $220. 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 Mount Buffalo?
The main demand drivers in Mount Buffalo are an above-state-median household income of $117,000/year. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Mount Buffalo?
Mount Buffalo has a usual resident population of approximately 5, compared with a Victoria suburb median of 7,416 — placing it in the lower 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 Mount Buffalo from the Melbourne CBD?
Mount Buffalo sits 201 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
What is the median rent in Mount Buffalo?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $220 in Mount Buffalo, equating to approximately $11,440/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 Mount Buffalo?
A reliable median mortgage figure was not captured for Mount Buffalo. Use our loan serviceability calculator to estimate a realistic monthly repayment for your target purchase price and deposit.
Is Mount Buffalo cash-flow positive for investors?
Census data was not complete enough in Mount Buffalo to compute a clean rent-to-mortgage coverage. Use current listings to benchmark weekly rent, then plug your expected purchase price into our rental yield calculator to see whether the investment runs cash-flow positive or negative.
What are the main risks of investing in Mount Buffalo?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (5 residents), interest-rate sensitivity, 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 Mount Buffalo 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.