Suburb Overview
Mount Emu is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 28, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 139 km from the Melbourne CBD, Mount Emu is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $81,224 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3351
Postcode for Mount Emu, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
28
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$100/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
$81,224
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
139 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$4,000/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
60% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Investment Insight
Mount Emu is a smaller community of 28 — about 0% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Household income of $81,224/year is 15% below the Victoria median of $95,160, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. At the 2021 Census, weekly rent of $100 covered just 11% of the $4,000/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, a $3,567/month gap at the time — verify current rents and repayments before pursuing this suburb, and only with a clear capital-growth thesis. Mount Emu is 139 km from Melbourne, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 60% 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.
Mount Emu vs Victoria Median
How Mount Emu stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Mount Emu sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Mount Emu | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 28 | 7,416 | -100% |
| Median household income | $81,224/yr | $95,160/yr | -15% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $100 | $380 | -74% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $4,000 | $1,950 | +105% |
| Distance to CBD | 139 km | 32 km | +334% |
| Separate houses | 60% | 78% | -18pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Mount Emu — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 28 residents — 0% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $81,224/year (-15% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $100/week rent (≈ $433/month) covered ~11% of the $4,000/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 139 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 60% separate houses — mixed market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$400/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $4,000/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 6% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 28 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Weak cash flow at the 2021 Census: $100/week rent covered only 11% of the $4,000/month median mortgage — a $3,567/month gap funded from other income. On the Census snapshot this reads as a capital-growth play, not a yield play; verify current rents before deciding.
Only 60% 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 $4,000/month median mortgage in Mount Emu means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $400/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 28 residents, Mount Emu 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 139 km from the nearest CBD, Mount Emu 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 Emu regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Mount Emu 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 Mount Emu are modest for 2026 — incomes 15% below the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 28 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~11% of the typical mortgage ($433/month rent vs $4,000/month repayment), meaning investors will rely on capital growth rather than yield. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Mount Emu is cautious 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 Mount Emu a good suburb for investment?
Whether Mount Emu suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 28, a median household income of $81,224/year and median weekly rent of $100. 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 Emu?
The main demand drivers in Mount Emu are a median household income of $81,224/year, a dwelling mix that is 60% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Mount Emu?
Mount Emu has a usual resident population of approximately 28, 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 Emu from the Melbourne CBD?
Mount Emu sits 139 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 Emu?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $100 in Mount Emu, equating to approximately $5,200/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 Emu?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Mount Emu is $4,000, or approximately $48,000/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 Mount Emu cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $100 works out to $433/month, covering 11% of the median mortgage repayment of $4,000/month. That leaves a $3,567/month shortfall (around $42,804/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 Mount Emu?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (28 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $4,000 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.
How we built this Mount Emu 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.