Buyers agent, Melbourne
The cheap half of Melbourne grew 3.1 times faster than the expensive half.
That is not an opinion, it is what 36 Melbourne suburbs have done over ten years. Split them at the middle by price and the cheaper half compounded at +3.2% a year while the dearer half managed +1.0%. If you are buying an investment property in Melbourne, that gap is the entire decision.
The spread
Melbourne is not one market. It is dozens, and they went different ways.
People talk about the Melbourne market like it is a single thing that either went up or did not. Over the last decade the five best suburbs on this page averaged $996,162 and the five worst averaged $1,818,924. The expensive ones are the ones that went nowhere.
Cheaper half by price
+3.2%
a year over ten years
Dearer half by price
+1.0%
a year over ten years
5 of the 36 have gone backwards over ten years, and every one of them costs more than a million dollars. The top of the table is full of places nobody brings up at a barbecue.
| Suburb | Typical house | Yield | 10yr a year | Last 12mth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truganina 3029 | $760,702 | 3.40% | +8.4% | +7.0% |
| Craigieburn 3064 | $747,663 | 3.61% | +7.3% | +5.0% |
| Blairgowrie 3942 | $1,623,057 | 2.05% | +6.0% | +1.9% |
| Langwarrin 3910 | $995,896 | 3.29% | +5.8% | +7.1% |
| Hallam 3803 | $853,492 | 3.44% | +5.5% | +7.4% |
| Coburg 3058 | $1,303,537 | 3.10% | +3.8% | +6.4% |
| Glenroy 3046 | $868,441 | 3.53% | +3.6% | +7.2% |
| Moonee Ponds 3039 | $1,548,540 | 2.75% | +3.0% | +5.8% |
| Altona 3018 | $1,110,421 | 3.13% | +3.0% | +0.2% |
| Murrumbeena 3163 | $1,793,726 | 2.48% | +2.8% | +1.9% |
| Yarraville 3013 | $1,286,903 | 3.02% | +2.8% | +1.0% |
| Brighton East 3187 | $2,495,897 | 2.19% | +2.7% | +0.2% |
| Beaumaris 3193 | $2,164,702 | 2.29% | +2.4% | -0.5% |
| Brunswick 3056 | $1,394,180 | 3.40% | +2.3% | +4.2% |
| Blackburn 3130 | $1,777,542 | 2.03% | +2.3% | +0.6% |
| Doncaster 3108 | $1,674,920 | 2.24% | +2.2% | +4.3% |
| Highett 3190 | $1,340,768 | 3.21% | +2.0% | +5.2% |
| Black Rock 3193 | $2,157,461 | 3.00% | +1.6% | -1.3% |
| Seddon 3011 | $1,040,712 | 3.49% | +1.6% | -1.9% |
| Balwyn 3103 | $2,740,314 | 1.72% | +1.5% | -2.4% |
| Port Melbourne 3207 | $1,750,418 | 2.92% | +1.4% | +2.2% |
| Ringwood 3134 | $997,519 | 3.38% | +1.3% | +0.8% |
| Ripponlea 3185 | $1,819,103 | 2.52% | +1.3% | +1.1% |
| Sandringham 3191 | $1,984,415 | 2.61% | +1.1% | -2.1% |
| Fitzroy 3065 | $1,560,866 | 3.76% | +0.7% | +2.1% |
| Caulfield 3162 | $1,835,747 | 2.71% | +0.6% | -0.9% |
| St Kilda 3182 | $1,297,791 | 4.02% | +0.4% | -0.8% |
| Malvern 3144 | $2,549,284 | 2.31% | +0.3% | -4.1% |
| East Melbourne 3002 | $3,004,419 | 2.13% | +0.1% | +1.2% |
| Brighton 3186 | $2,559,394 | 2.51% | +0.1% | -2.7% |
| Hawthorn East 3123 | $2,273,138 | 2.47% | +0.1% | -5.2% |
| Balaclava 3183 | $1,330,128 | 3.84% | -0.0% | -0.4% |
| Hawthorn 3122 | $2,397,721 | 2.34% | -0.5% | -5.7% |
| Malvern East 3145 | $1,847,398 | 2.58% | -0.6% | -5.2% |
| Box Hill 3128 | $1,553,709 | 2.31% | -0.7% | -1.2% |
| South Yarra 3141 | $1,965,665 | 3.11% | -1.1% | -5.9% |
Houses only, August 2026. HtAG Analytics, suburb level, all bedroom counts. Typical price is a modelled estimate, not a median of recent sales.
Why this list looks the way it does
The suburb people brag about is rarely the one that grew
Truganina sits at the top of that table on $760,702. South Yarra sits at the bottom on $1,965,665. One of those costs more than twice the other and has gone backwards over a decade.
That's not a Melbourne quirk, it's the pattern almost everywhere. The premium postcodes ran hard in an earlier cycle and have been digesting it ever since, while the suburbs a normal buyer can actually reach kept finding new buyers. Buyer pool moves price.
None of which means you should never buy in the expensive ones. If you want to live there, that's a family decision and the growth number is not the only thing that matters. Just go in knowing what it is.
How I pick a marketWhere the councils sit right now
7 of these 20 Melbourne councils are at or past peak.
Ten year growth tells you what a market did. The cycle position tells you where it is standing today. 10 of these councils are still rising on house prices as at July 2026, and 3 are recovering, which means the decline is easing rather than that prices are climbing. Every council name below opens its full written report.
Cycle readings as at July 2026, houses. The Momentum Dial has all 453 councils in the country, not just these.
What I actually do
Narrow the country to five suburbs, then find the house in one of them.
Every search starts with all 15,000 suburbs in Australia and narrows to the handful that suit your borrowing capacity, your timeline and what you are trying to build. Melbourne is where most of my enquiries come from. It is not where every client ends up buying, and I am not going to pretend otherwise to keep the search local.
Then the actual work: calls to agents, off market conversations, inspections, a comparative market analysis on every serious contender, the negotiation, and the run to settlement with a tenant in it. Flat $20,000 including GST, split $5,500 on signing and $14,500 when your purchase goes unconditional.
Melbourne questions
What people ask before the first call.
What does a buyer’s agent in Melbourne cost?
A flat $20,000 including GST, the same at every budget and in every suburb. It splits $5,500 when you sign on and $14,500 when your purchase goes unconditional. The pricing page itemises all of it.
Do you only buy investment properties in Melbourne?
No. Melbourne is where most of the questions come from, which is why this page exists, but every search starts with all 15,000 suburbs in the country. Plenty of Melbourne clients end up buying interstate because that is where their numbers stacked up. If you are buying a home rather than an investment, the first home buyers page covers how that works.
Is Melbourne even a good place to invest right now?
Parts of it, on the data. The cheaper half of the suburbs on this page compounded at roughly three times the rate of the dearer half over ten years, and five of them have gone backwards. Melbourne is not one market, it is dozens, and the spread between them is far bigger than the spread between capital cities.
What do you actually do that I cannot do myself?
Narrow 15,000 suburbs to the handful that fit your borrowing capacity and your timeline, then find and negotiate the property inside one of them. You can absolutely do it yourself. Most people who try it well spend about twenty hours a week for six months, which is the real cost people forget to count.
How long does a Melbourne purchase take?
Four weeks on average from signing on to a secured property. Some take longer, because the finish line is you being happy with the buy rather than a date on a calendar.
Which Melbourne suburbs do you cover?
The 36 on this page have full write ups, and they are the ones people ask about most. They are not a shortlist and they are not the limit of where we buy. If your suburb is not here, ask and I will pull the numbers on it.