Suburb Overview
St Helena is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,890, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 20 km from the Melbourne CBD, St Helena is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $117,312 per year.
Location
Key Indicators
Postcode
3088
Postcode for St Helena, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
2,890
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$163/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
$117,312
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Distance to CBD
20 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
$1,250,000
Median house sale price — as at 2025 (preliminary), Valuer-General Victoria (CC BY 4.0).
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$2,167/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
80% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why People Like Living in St Helena
- Well-connected to Melbourne at ~20 km from the CBD.
- Predominantly separate houses (80%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who St Helena Suits
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Established infrastructure and existing community base.
Cons
- Median mortgage sits above the Victoria state median — entry costs are stretched.
- Transport options are limited — car dependency is likely.
- Fewer schools inside the suburb itself — verify catchments for neighbouring areas.
Investment Insight
St Helena is a smaller community of 2,890 — about 39% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $117,312/year runs 23% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. At the 2021 Census, weekly rent of $163 covered just 33% of the $2,167/month median mortgage recorded at the same Census, a $1,461/month gap at the time — verify current rents and repayments before pursuing this suburb, and only with a clear capital-growth thesis. 20 km from Melbourne places St Helena in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Investment Tip
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 7% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
St Helena vs Victoria Median
How St Helena stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean St Helena sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | St Helena | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,890 | 7,416 | -61% |
| Median household income | $117,312/yr | $95,160/yr | +23% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $163 | $380 | -57% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,167 | $1,950 | +11% |
| Distance to CBD | 20 km | 32 km | -37% |
| Separate houses | 80% | 78% | +2pp |
Investor Checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for St Helena — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 2,890 residents — 39% of the VIC suburb median (7,416).
- Purchasing power: median household income $117,312/year (+23% vs Victoria suburb median of $95,160).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $163/week rent (≈ $706/month) covered ~33% of the $2,167/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 20 km straight-line from Melbourne (state suburb median 32 km).
- Dwelling mix: 80% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 78% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$217/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,167/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 7% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment Strategy
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 23% above the Victoria suburb median ($117,312 vs $95,160), and the 20 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Victoria, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Weak cash flow at the 2021 Census: $163/week rent covered only 33% of the $2,167/month median mortgage — a $1,461/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.
With 80% houses in a 2,890-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 $2,167/month median mortgage in St Helena means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $217/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 2,890 residents, St Helena 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.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in St Helena regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in St Helena 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
St Helena enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 23% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160 and a population of 2,890 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider VIC market over the next 12–18 months. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~33% of the typical mortgage ($706/month rent vs $2,167/month repayment), meaning investors will rely on capital growth rather than yield. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for St Helena 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 St Helena a good suburb for investment?
Whether St Helena suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 2,890, a median household income of $117,312/year and median weekly rent of $163. 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 Helena?
The main demand drivers in St Helena are proximity to Melbourne (20 km), an above-state-median household income of $117,312/year, a dwelling mix that is 80% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of St Helena?
St Helena has a usual resident population of approximately 2,890, 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 Helena from the Melbourne CBD?
St Helena sits 20 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
What is the median rent in St Helena?
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $163 in St Helena, equating to approximately $8,476/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 St Helena?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in St Helena is $2,167, or approximately $26,004/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 Helena cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $163 works out to $706/month, covering 33% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,167/month. That leaves a $1,461/month shortfall (around $17,532/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 St Helena?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (2,890 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,167 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 St Helena 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.