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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Watermans Bay is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Perth, Australia, with a population of approximately 1,369, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 15 km from the Perth CBD, Watermans Bay is a middle ring area in Western Australia. The median household income is $113,880 per year.
Watermans Bay benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing. The short commute to the city centre is a key demand driver.
Official Australia Post postcode for Watermans Bay. 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 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Watermans Bay on My School →Estimated 1 park 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.
Watermans Bay is a smaller community of 1,369 — about 24% of the Western Australia suburb median (5,605) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Households here earn $113,880/year on average — 14% above the WA suburb median of $99,736 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. Median rent of $410/week (~$1,777/month) covers only 61% of the median mortgage of $2,934/month — the remaining $1,157/month must be funded from other income, so this suburb tilts toward capital growth rather than yield. 15 km from Perth places Watermans Bay 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 60% 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.
How Watermans Bay stacks up against the median of all Western Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Watermans Bay sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Watermans Bay | WA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,369 | 5,605 | -76% |
| Median household income | $113,880/yr | $99,736/yr | +14% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $410 | $350 | +17% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,934 | $1,902 | +54% |
| Distance to CBD | 15 km | 20 km | -25% |
| Separate houses | 60% | 79% | -19pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Watermans Bay — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 1,369 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Western Australia market over full cycles.
Weak cash flow: $410/week rent covers only 61% of the $2,934/month median mortgage — a $1,157/month gap that must be funded from other income. This suburb is a capital-growth play, not a yield play.
Only 60% 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 Watermans Bay property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Watermans Bay are modest for 2026 — incomes 14% above the WA median of $99,736 and a population of 1,369 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~61% of the typical mortgage ($1,777/month rent vs $2,934/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 70/100 places Watermans Bay 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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Watermans Bay scores 70/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 1,369, median household income of $113,880/year and median weekly rent of $410. 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 Watermans Bay are proximity to Perth (15 km), an above-state-median household income of $113,880/year, a dwelling mix that is 60% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 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.
Watermans Bay has a usual resident population of approximately 1,369, compared with a Western Australia suburb median of 5,605 — 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.
Watermans Bay sits 15 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 $410 in Watermans Bay, equating to approximately $21,320/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 Watermans Bay is $2,934, or approximately $35,208/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 $410 works out to $1,777/month, covering 61% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,934/month. That leaves a $1,157/month shortfall (around $13,884/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 a thin buyer pool (1,369 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,934 median mortgage, 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.