Suburb overview
Red Cliffs is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 5,294, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 457 km from the Melbourne CBD, Red Cliffs is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $67,080 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
3496
Postcode for Red Cliffs, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
5,294
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$240/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.
Distance to CBD
457 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
$280,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,083/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
84% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Red Cliffs
- Regional location about 457 km from Melbourne.
- Predominantly separate houses (84%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who Red Cliffs 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.
- Lower purchase prices and more land for the money.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (457 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
Red Cliffs is a smaller community of 5,294 — about 71% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Red Cliffs's median household income of $67,080/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 $240 equated to $1,040/month — about 96% of the then-median mortgage repayment of $1,083/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. Red Cliffs is 457 km from Melbourne, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
Investment tip
Regional property can deliver strong cash-flow yields but liquidity is tighter — plan for longer hold periods and verify local employment stability. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 19% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Red Cliffs vs Victoria median
How Red Cliffs stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Red Cliffs sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Red Cliffs | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 5,294 | 7,416 | -29% |
| Median household income | $67,080/yr | $95,160/yr | -30% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $240 | $380 | -37% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,083 | $1,950 | -44% |
| Distance to CBD | 457 km | 32 km | +1328% |
| Separate houses | 84% | 78% | +6pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Red Cliffs — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 5,294 residents — 71% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $67,080/year (-30% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $240/week rent (≈ $1,040/month) covered ~96% of the $1,083/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 457 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 84% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$108/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,083/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 19% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 30% below the VIC median ($67,080 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: $240/week (~$1,040/month) covered 96% of the $1,083/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $43/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 84% houses in a 5,294-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 $1,083/month median mortgage in Red Cliffs means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $108/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Red Cliffs are 30% below the Victoria median ($67,080 vs $95,160), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Commute distance: at 457 km from the nearest CBD, Red Cliffs 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 Red Cliffs regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Red Cliffs 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 Red Cliffs property
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Start your journey near Red Cliffs →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Red Cliffs 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 ~96% of the typical mortgage ($1,040/month rent vs $1,083/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Red Cliffs is cautious heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Victoria median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Red Cliffs a good suburb for investment?
Whether Red Cliffs suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 5,294, a median household income of $67,080/year and median weekly rent of $240. 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 Red Cliffs?
The main demand drivers in Red Cliffs are a median household income of $67,080/year, a dwelling mix that is 84% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Red Cliffs?
Red Cliffs has a usual resident population of approximately 5,294, 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 Red Cliffs from the Melbourne CBD?
Red Cliffs sits 457 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 Red Cliffs?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $240 in Red Cliffs, equating to approximately $12,480/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 Red Cliffs?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Red Cliffs is $1,083, or approximately $12,996/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 Red Cliffs cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $240 works out to $1,040/month, covering 96% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,083/month. That leaves a $43/month shortfall (around $516/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 Red Cliffs?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,083 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($67,080 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 Red Cliffs profile
The population figure on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census. The postcode comes from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. The dwelling mix is from the ABS 2021 Census. The median household income is the ABS 2021 Census median weekly household income, annualised. Distance to the CBD is calculated from the suburb's ABS centroid. The Census median rent and mortgage figures are 2021 figures and are labelled as such wherever they appear — they are five years old and have moved substantially since. The median sale price shown comes from Valuer-General Victoria (2025 (preliminary)), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. 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.