Suburb Overview
St Arnaud East is a regional centre in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 100, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 196 km from the Melbourne CBD, St Arnaud East is a regional area in Victoria. The median household income is $71,500 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3477
Postcode for St Arnaud East, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
100
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
N/A
A current median rent has not been published for this suburb.
Median household income
$71,500
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
196 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,138/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
79% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Investment Insight
St Arnaud East is a smaller community of 100 — about 1% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. St Arnaud East's median household income of $71,500/year is 25% 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. St Arnaud East is 196 km from Melbourne, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
St Arnaud East vs Victoria Median
How St Arnaud East stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean St Arnaud East sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | St Arnaud East | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 100 | 7,416 | -99% |
| Median household income | $71,500/yr | $95,160/yr | -25% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,138 | $1,950 | -42% |
| Distance to CBD | 196 km | 32 km | +513% |
| Separate houses | 79% | 78% | +1pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for St Arnaud East — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 100 residents — 1% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $71,500/year (-25% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Gross rental income: verify via realestate.com.au — median rent data was not captured for this suburb.
- CBD access: 196 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 79% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$114/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,138/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: rent-to-income data not available — verify against state rental tribunal dashboards.
Investment Strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 100 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Median rental data was not captured for St Arnaud East. Use current realestate.com.au and Domain listings to triangulate a realistic weekly rent before committing, then feed that number into our rental yield calculator.
With 79% houses in a 100-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 $1,138/month median mortgage in St Arnaud East means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $114/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in St Arnaud East are 25% below the Victoria median ($71,500 vs $95,160), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 100 residents, St Arnaud East 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 196 km from the nearest CBD, St Arnaud East 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 St Arnaud East regardless of local market conditions.
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Start your first-home journey →2026 Outlook
Capital-growth expectations for St Arnaud East are modest for 2026 — incomes 25% below the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 100 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental fundamentals will need to be verified against live listings, as a clean median rent was not recorded for St Arnaud East. Overall investor sentiment for St Arnaud East 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 St Arnaud East a good suburb for investment?
Whether St Arnaud East suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 100, a median household income of $71,500/year. 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 St Arnaud East?
The main demand drivers in St Arnaud East are a median household income of $71,500/year, a dwelling mix that is 79% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of St Arnaud East?
St Arnaud East has a usual resident population of approximately 100, 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 St Arnaud East from the Melbourne CBD?
St Arnaud East sits 196 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 St Arnaud East?
A reliable median rent was not captured for St Arnaud East. Benchmark expected weekly rent on realestate.com.au and Domain, or the state rental tribunal's rent dashboard. Most Australian investors target a 4–5% gross yield as a baseline.
What is the typical mortgage repayment in St Arnaud East?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in St Arnaud East is $1,138, or approximately $13,656/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 St Arnaud East cash-flow positive for investors?
Census data was not complete enough in St Arnaud East 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 St Arnaud East?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (100 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,138 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($71,500 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 St Arnaud East 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.