Best Suburbs to Live in South East Melbourne, The 2026 Guide
South East Melbourne stretches from the inner bay suburbs a few kilometres from the CBD all the way out to the bayside fringe, and the range of what you get for your money varies enormously across that run. Whether you're stretching to your first purchase, upgrading with equity behind you, or buying an investment you'll never live in, the suburb you land in shapes what your loan looks like as much as your deposit does.
House medians across the approved area run from $1,280,000 in Moorabbin up to $4,960,000 in Toorak, and every single house median sits above the $950,000 First Home Guarantee price cap. That makes South East Melbourne a unit and townhouse story for most first-time buyers — 22 of the 28 suburbs covered here have a unit median under the cap, with some well under $600,000.
At EverLend, we help buyers across South East Melbourne work through which suburb suits their situation and how a lender will actually read their position, comparing across a panel of home loan options from 60+ lenders to find the right fit.
Key takeaways
- Every house median in South East Melbourne sits above the $950,000 cap.
- Unit medians from $470,000 keep several suburbs within reach for first buyers.
- Lender assessment, not just price, determines which suburb you can actually buy in.
What are the best suburbs to live in South East Melbourne?
The strongest suburbs for liveability across South East Melbourne range from Bentleigh and Cheltenham at the more accessible end — with unit medians around $700,000 to $935,000 and strong train access — through to Albert Park, Malvern and Brighton for buyers with larger deposits and equity to deploy. No single suburb is the right answer; the best one is the one your borrowing position can reach and your lifestyle can use.
How do suburb medians in South East Melbourne compare right now?
CoreLogic data shows house medians running from $1,280,000 in Moorabbin and $1,298,750 in Cheltenham at the accessible end, up to $2,460,000 in Glen Iris, $3,250,000 in Brighton and $4,960,000 in Toorak at the prestige end. Unit medians tell a different story: Ripponlea sits at $470,000, St Kilda at $512,000 and Prahran at $500,000 — all well under the $600,000 full stamp-duty exemption threshold for first home buyers in Victoria.
Source: CoreLogic (via YIP, June 2026).
We see buyers dismiss a suburb because the house median looks impossible, without checking whether a unit or townhouse in that same suburb would change the entire picture. In South East Melbourne, the unit market and the house market in the same street can be two completely different lending conversations.
Evelyn Clark · Director, Mortgage & Finance Broker · Chat to Evelyn →
Best-value suburbs to live in South East Melbourne
Moorabbin
Moorabbin suits first home buyers and investors who want solid train access — Moorabbin station on the Frankston line — and a mid-range entry point without going to the outer fringe.
- Median house price: $1,280,000
- 12-month house growth: +3.23%
- Median unit price: $770,000
- 12-month unit growth: +0.65%
- Best suited for: first investors, tradies, dual-income buyers
Cheltenham
Cheltenham is one of the more accessible suburbs in the area with a house median under $1.3m, two train stations and proximity to Westfield Southland — it suits buyers who want suburban depth and room to upsize later.
- Median house price: $1,298,750
- 12-month house growth: +8.23%
- Median unit price: $700,000
- 12-month unit growth: -0.71%
- Best suited for: families, upsizers, government workers
Oakleigh
Oakleigh has a strong café and dining culture along Eaton Mall and direct Cranbourne/Pakenham line access, making it a practical choice for buyers who commute into the city.
- Median house price: $1,362,500
- 12-month house growth: +4.81%
- Median unit price: $580,000
- 12-month unit growth: 0.00%
- Best suited for: first home buyers (units), couples, young families
Murrumbeena
Murrumbeena is a quieter suburb with an elevated train station (rebuilt as part of the level crossing removal program), a village shopping strip on Neerim Road, and Federation and interwar houses that hold their appeal.
- Median house price: $1,650,000
- 12-month house growth: +0.61%
- Median unit price: $636,250
- 12-month unit growth: -22.41%*
- Best suited for: owner-occupiers, families, upsizers
*Unit figure reflects likely sales-mix movement — use with care.
Carnegie
Carnegie sits on the Cranbourne/Pakenham line with the station right in the middle of the Koornang Road shopping strip, making it one of the more liveable mid-range suburbs in South East Melbourne.
- Median house price: $1,725,000
- 12-month house growth: +1.47%
- Median unit price: $630,000
- 12-month unit growth: -10.64%
- Best suited for: young professionals, couples, first home buyers (units)
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Established and premium suburbs to live in South East Melbourne
Bentleigh
Bentleigh has Centre Road running through the middle of its shopping strip with the train station at its heart — it's one of the most practical established suburbs in the area and its unit median is just under the $950,000 First Home Guarantee cap.
- Median house price: $1,755,000
- 12-month house growth: +3.85%
- Median unit price: $935,000
- 12-month unit growth: +6.25%
- Best suited for: families, upsizers, buyers moving up from entry suburbs
Hampton
Hampton offers Hampton Beach, the Sandringham Yacht Club nearby and Hampton Street as Bayside's largest shopping strip — it attracts buyers who want the bay lifestyle without pushing into the Sandringham or Brighton price bands.
- Median house price: $2,425,000
- 12-month house growth: +4.62%
- Median unit price: $1,200,000
- 12-month unit growth: +18.52%
- Best suited for: upsizers, downsizers, bay lifestyle buyers
Sandringham
Sandringham is the terminus of the Sandringham line, with red-cliff beaches, the Sandringham Yacht Club and a tightly held housing market — house growth of +14.35% over the year to June 2026 reflects strong demand.
- Median house price: $2,430,000
- 12-month house growth: +14.35%
- Median unit price: $707,500
- 12-month unit growth: +2.91%
- Best suited for: sea-changers within the city, downsizers, equity-rich upsizers
Glen Iris
Glen Iris sits on the Glen Waverley line with the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre on High Street and Gardiners Creek Trail parklands running through it — popular with families who want greenery and quick Monash Freeway access.
- Median house price: $2,460,000
- 12-month house growth: +2.39%
- Median unit price: $744,000
- 12-month unit growth: -2.81%
- Best suited for: families, professionals, buyers with strong equity
Brighton
Brighton anchors the prestige bayside market, with four train stations, Church Street's 260-plus shops, the heritage-listed bathing boxes at Dendy Street Beach and a house median of $3,250,000 that reflects one of the strongest land-holding markets in Victoria.
- Median house price: $3,250,000
- 12-month house growth: -5.39%
- Median unit price: $1,247,500
- 12-month unit growth: -6.90%
- Best suited for: prestige buyers, downsizers with significant equity, established investors
Source: CoreLogic (via YIP, June 2026).
Where I'd point a buyer who has equity and wants to land in an established suburb for the long run is somewhere like Sandringham or Glen Iris — both offer something the inner suburbs don't, which is genuine neighbourhood depth rather than just proximity to the CBD. But the lending conversation is very different in each, because one has units under the cap and one mostly doesn't.
Evelyn Clark · Director, Mortgage & Finance Broker · Chat to Evelyn →
What should buyers consider when choosing a suburb here?
Transport access, lifestyle fit and school catchments are all real factors — but for most buyers, the honest answer is that the suburb is chosen by what the lender will approve, not just what you prefer. A $2,460,000 Glen Iris house and a $744,000 Glen Iris unit sit on the same street and require fundamentally different deposits, different LVR structures and different borrowing strategies.
For buyers using the First Home Guarantee, the $950,000 price cap means the accessible suburbs are primarily unit and townhouse markets. Bentleigh's $935,000 unit median sits just inside that cap; Moorabbin's $770,000 and Cheltenham's $700,000 unit medians sit comfortably inside it. If you're buying a house in South East Melbourne as a first buyer, you're most likely looking at stamp duty at full rates and a larger deposit requirement, because no house in the area falls inside the concession band.
For upsizers and buyers with existing equity, the calculus shifts. The deposit is less of the constraint and the serviceability test — assessed at approximately 9% — becomes the deciding factor. In that case, the suburb you can reach depends less on your savings and more on your income shape and how a lender reads it.
Source: CoreLogic (via YIP, June 2026) and APRA.
What do these medians mean for your deposit and borrowing?
At 80% LVR — the standard threshold where lenders mortgage insurance is no longer required — a $700,000 unit in Cheltenham or a $580,000 unit in Oakleigh needs a deposit of $140,000 or $116,000 respectively. Both sit below the $950,000 First Home Guarantee cap, meaning a first buyer with a 5% deposit and no LMI is a genuine possibility in either suburb, subject to lender approval.
Move up to the $935,000 Bentleigh unit median and the numbers shift. A 5% deposit under the guarantee comes to about $46,750, but serviceability at approximately 9% on a loan of close to $888,000 is a harder assessment. Whether a buyer clears that test depends on income, existing debts and which lender's policy they land under — and that gap between lenders on the same file is exactly where a broker comparison earns its keep.
For suburbs where both the house and unit medians sit above the cap — Brighton, Hampton, Toorak, Caulfield — the first home buyer schemes are not available, and a 20% deposit is typically required to avoid LMI. That means the deposit target on a Brighton house is over $650,000, which reframes it as an equity-upgrade suburb, not an entry-level one.
Source: CoreLogic (via YIP, June 2026) and Housing Australia.
How does a mortgage broker help buyers choose in South East Melbourne?
The lender's assessment decides which suburb is reachable, not the suburb itself. Three differences between lenders change the answer for buyers in this area, and they're not published side by side anywhere.
- › How income is read: shift allowances, overtime and self-employed add-backs vary between lenders — the same gross income can produce a materially different borrowing number depending on which lender assesses it.
- › How the scheme cap is applied: some lenders are approved under the First Home Guarantee and others aren't — if your target suburb's best-value stock sits just under $950,000, lender access to the scheme is the deciding factor.
- › LVR policy on high-density postcodes: some lenders tighten their LVR on inner-city or high-density apartment postcodes — relevant for unit buyers in St Kilda, South Yarra and Prahran in particular.
Comparing across a panel of 60+ lenders is where those differences become visible — and in South East Melbourne's price environment, the gap between what one lender approves and what another does can be the difference between reaching Cheltenham or stopping short of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which South East Melbourne suburbs are most accessible for first home buyers?
Moorabbin, Cheltenham and Oakleigh offer unit medians under $800,000 and sit within the $950,000 First Home Guarantee cap. All three have train access and fall inside the Victorian stamp duty exemption band for first buyers at the unit level.
Does the Victorian stamp duty exemption apply to any of these suburbs?
Yes, for units under $600,000. Several suburbs including Ripponlea, Oakleigh and St Kilda have unit medians below the full exemption threshold, meaning eligible first home buyers pay no transfer duty on qualifying purchases.
Are there any South East Melbourne suburbs where houses fall under the First Home Guarantee cap?
No. Every house median across all 28 approved suburbs sits above the $950,000 price cap. First home buyer schemes apply to units and townhouses in this area, not to houses.
Is Bentleigh or Cheltenham a better suburb to buy in South East Melbourne?
Cheltenham offers lower house and unit medians with slightly stronger house growth; Bentleigh's unit median of $935,000 sits just under the $950,000 cap but leaves less buffer. For buyers close to the scheme threshold, Cheltenham is the less risky entry point.
Should South East Melbourne buyers use a mortgage broker or go direct to a bank?
A mortgage broker, every time. In a market where the difference between suburbs can be $200,000 in median price, getting the highest possible assessed income from the right lender changes which suburb you can realistically reach — one lender can't show you that comparison.
Your Next Steps
The right suburb in South East Melbourne isn't the one with the best median growth chart — it's the one your borrowing position can reach while still leaving room to live in. Getting those two numbers aligned, the suburb's entry point and your lender-assessed capacity, is exactly the conversation worth having before you start making offers.
If buying in South East Melbourne is on your horizon, the next step is simple. Get in touch with the EverLend team or call 03 7036 3356. We'll work through where you stand across our 60+ lender panel.
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External Resources
EverLend · South East Melbourne · Ever Lend Pty Ltd (ACN 625 080 515), authorised under Australian Credit Licence 517192 · General information only - this article does not constitute financial advice. Please consider your own circumstances and seek professional advice before making any financial decisions.
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