Suburb Overview
Patterson Lakes is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 7,793, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 33 km from the Melbourne CBD, Patterson Lakes is a outer metro area in Victoria. The median household income is $100,464 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3197
Postcode for Patterson Lakes, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
7,793
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$430/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
$100,464
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
33 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
$855,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Median unit price
$698,500
Median unit sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,100/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
55% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in Patterson Lakes
- Family-friendly fringe location — around 33 km from Melbourne.
- Several schools in the area (around 2), attractive for families.
- Local parks and reserves (around 3) within easy reach.
- Well-serviced by public transport and major roads.
- Newer estates with modern homes and family-sized blocks.
Who Patterson Lakes Suits
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Local parks and reserves (around 3) add to liveability.
- Solid transport links into employment hubs.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (33 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment Insight
7,793 residents places Patterson Lakes squarely in the middle of the Victoria suburb size distribution (state median 7,416), with market depth comparable to most VIC localities. Households here earn $100,464/year on average — 6% above the VIC suburb median of $95,160 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. At the 2021 Census, rent of $430/week covered 89% of the $2,100/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, leaving a gap of roughly $237/month at the time. Rents and repayments have both risen since — re-run the numbers with current figures before drawing conclusions. At 33 km from Melbourne, Patterson Lakes is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price. Only 55% 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
Outer-metro suburbs reward careful property selection — aim for homes near infrastructure rather than generic house-and-land packages. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 22% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Patterson Lakes vs Victoria Median
How Patterson Lakes stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Patterson Lakes sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Patterson Lakes | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 7,793 | 7,416 | +5% |
| Median household income | $100,464/yr | $95,160/yr | +6% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $430 | $380 | +13% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,100 | $1,950 | +8% |
| Distance to CBD | 33 km | 32 km | +3% |
| Separate houses | 55% | 78% | -23pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Patterson Lakes — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 7,793 residents — 105% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $100,464/year (+6% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $430/week rent (≈ $1,863/month) covered ~89% of the $2,100/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 33 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 55% separate houses — mixed market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$210/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,100/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 22% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 7,793 and household income close to the VIC median ($100,464 vs $95,160) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $430/week (~$1,863/month) covered 89% of the $2,100/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $237/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
Only 55% 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 $2,100/month median mortgage in Patterson Lakes means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $210/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Patterson Lakes is 33 km from the CBD — not close enough to benefit from the inner-ring pricing halo, so growth depends more heavily on local infrastructure decisions and the wider Victoria market cycle.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Patterson Lakes regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Patterson Lakes 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
Property values in Patterson Lakes should track the wider Victoria market through 2026, with the $100,464/year median household income (6% above the $95,160 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~89% of the typical mortgage ($1,863/month rent vs $2,100/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Patterson Lakes 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 Patterson Lakes a good suburb for investment?
Whether Patterson Lakes suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 7,793, a median household income of $100,464/year and median weekly rent of $430. 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 Patterson Lakes?
The main demand drivers in Patterson Lakes are an above-state-median household income of $100,464/year, a dwelling mix that is 55% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Patterson Lakes?
Patterson Lakes has a usual resident population of approximately 7,793, 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 Patterson Lakes from the Melbourne CBD?
Patterson Lakes sits 33 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is an outer-metro location; local employment and infrastructure announcements tend to move prices more than CBD connectivity alone.
What is the median rent in Patterson Lakes?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $430 in Patterson Lakes, equating to approximately $22,360/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 Patterson Lakes?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Patterson Lakes is $2,100, or approximately $25,200/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 Patterson Lakes cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $430 works out to $1,863/month, covering 89% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,100/month. That leaves a $237/month shortfall (around $2,844/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 Patterson Lakes?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,100 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 Patterson Lakes 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.