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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Reservoir is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 51,096, making it a significant urban area. Located approximately 12 km from the Melbourne CBD, Reservoir is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $80,132 per year.
Household incomes in Reservoir sit in a comfortable mid-range for the Victoria market. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Reservoir. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 13 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Reservoir on My School →Estimated 20 parks and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
With 51,096 residents, Reservoir is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 6.9× 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. Household income of $80,132/year is 16% below the Victoria median of $95,160, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Rent of $360/week (79% coverage of the $1,986/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $426/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. 12 km from Melbourne places Reservoir in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs. Only 58% 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.
This suburb suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. Local rents consume roughly 23% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Reservoir stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Reservoir sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Reservoir | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 51,096 | 7,416 | +589% |
| Median household income | $80,132/yr | $95,160/yr | -16% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $360 | $380 | -5% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,986 | $1,950 | +2% |
| Distance to CBD | 12 km | 32 km | -62% |
| Separate houses | 58% | 78% | -20pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Reservoir — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Reservoir's 51,096-person market and $80,132 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $360/week covers 79% of a $1,986/month mortgage, leaving a $426/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 58% 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.
Run the numbers on a Reservoir property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Reservoir are modest for 2026 — incomes 16% below the VIC median of $95,160 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~79% of the typical mortgage ($1,560/month rent vs $1,986/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 71/100 places Reservoir in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
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Reservoir scores 71/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 51,096, median household income of $80,132/year and median weekly rent of $360. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Reservoir are proximity to Melbourne (12 km), a median household income of $80,132/year, a dwelling mix that is 58% separate houses, roughly 13 schools and 20 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Reservoir has a usual resident population of approximately 51,096, 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.
Reservoir sits 12 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $360 in Reservoir, equating to approximately $18,720/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.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Reservoir is $1,986, or approximately $23,832/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.
A median weekly rent of $360 works out to $1,560/month, covering 79% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,986/month. That leaves a $426/month shortfall (around $5,112/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.
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,986 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($80,132 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.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.