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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Scarborough is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Perth, Australia, with a population of approximately 17,605, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 11 km from the Perth CBD, Scarborough is a middle ring area in Western Australia. The median household income is $109,564 per year.
Scarborough benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing. Close CBD access strengthens tenant appeal and resale value.
Official Australia Post postcode for Scarborough. 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 4 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Scarborough on My School →Estimated 7 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 17,605 residents, Scarborough is one of Western Australia's more populous suburbs — roughly 3.1× the state median of 5,605 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Households here earn $109,564/year on average — 10% above the WA suburb median of $99,736 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. Rent of $405/week (81% coverage of the $2,167/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $412/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. 11 km from Perth places Scarborough 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 32% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 79% 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 19% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Scarborough stacks up against the median of all Western Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Scarborough sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Scarborough | WA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 17,605 | 5,605 | +214% |
| Median household income | $109,564/yr | $99,736/yr | +10% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $405 | $350 | +16% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,167 | $1,902 | +14% |
| Distance to CBD | 11 km | 20 km | -45% |
| Separate houses | 32% | 79% | -47pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Scarborough — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 17,605 and household income close to the WA median ($109,564 vs $99,736) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $405/week covers 81% of a $2,167/month mortgage, leaving a $412/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 32% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 79% WA 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 Scarborough property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Property values in Scarborough should track the wider Western Australia market through 2026, with the $109,564/year median household income (10% above the $99,736 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. Rental coverage runs at ~81% of the typical mortgage ($1,755/month rent vs $2,167/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 80/100 places Scarborough 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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Scarborough scores 80/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 17,605, median household income of $109,564/year and median weekly rent of $405. 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 Scarborough are proximity to Perth (11 km), an above-state-median household income of $109,564/year, a dwelling mix that is 32% separate houses, roughly 4 schools and 7 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.
Scarborough has a usual resident population of approximately 17,605, compared with a Western Australia suburb median of 5,605 — 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.
Scarborough sits 11 km straight-line from the Perth 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 $405 in Scarborough, equating to approximately $21,060/year in gross rental income (state median $350/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 Scarborough is $2,167, or approximately $26,004/year (vs $1,902/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 $405 works out to $1,755/month, covering 81% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,167/month. That leaves a $412/month shortfall (around $4,944/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 $2,167 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (32% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, the broader Western Australia 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.