Median House Prices by Suburb in South East Melbourne, The 2026 Guide
South East Melbourne covers one of the most varied property markets in the city. A suburb ten minutes from the next can carry a median house price two million dollars higher, and the difference isn't just about prestige — it shapes your deposit, your lender options, and which government schemes are actually in reach.
The figures below come from a single CoreLogic data pull (via YIP, to June 2026) across all 28 approved suburbs in the area. They're sourced from one provider on one date so you're comparing like with like, not mixing portals with different methodologies.
EverLend helps buyers across South East Melbourne work out what a suburb's median actually means for their borrowing position, comparing options across a panel of 60+ lenders. The home loan structure that suits a $512,000 unit purchase is very different from the one that suits a $4.9 million house, and the lender you need is different too.
Key takeaways
- Every approved suburb's house median sits above the $950,000 first-home cap.
- Unit medians run from $470,000 to $1,247,500 across the 28 suburbs.
- First-home buying in South East Melbourne is overwhelmingly a unit story.
What are the median house and unit prices across South East Melbourne suburbs?
CoreLogic data shows house medians across the 28 approved South East Melbourne suburbs running from $1,280,000 in Moorabbin and $1,298,750 in Cheltenham at the entry end, through to $4,960,000 in Toorak at the top. Unit medians span a much wider range of affordability — from $470,000 in Ripponlea to $1,247,500 in Brighton — and 22 of the 28 suburbs have a unit median that sits under the $950,000 first-home scheme cap.
Source: CoreLogic (via YIP, June 2026).
Which suburbs have the lowest entry-level medians in South East Melbourne?
For buyers working with a tighter budget, the most accessible house medians are in the area's southern corridor. Moorabbin recorded a median house price of $1,280,000 over the 12 months to June 2026, with 3.23% growth, while Cheltenham sat at $1,298,750, up 8.23%, across 278 house sales — one of the largest sample sizes in the dataset.
Oakleigh ($1,362,500, +4.81%) and Carnegie ($1,725,000, +1.47%) sit in the mid-range, while the inner-south suburbs — St Kilda ($1,444,000, -9.75%), Windsor ($1,425,000, +1.79%) and Prahran ($1,600,000, -6.43%) — offer the area's entry-level access closest to the city.
Unit medians tell a different story
Seven suburbs have unit medians under the $600,000 first-home duty exemption threshold: Ripponlea ($470,000), St Kilda ($512,000), Prahran ($500,000), Windsor ($530,000), South Yarra ($525,000), Oakleigh ($580,000) and Balaclava ($591,500). These are the suburbs where a first home buyer using the 5% Deposit Scheme can buy with the smallest deposit and pay no stamp duty.
A further group — Elsternwick ($712,500), Armadale ($701,000), Cheltenham ($700,000), Glen Huntly ($657,500), Murrumbeena ($636,250) and Carnegie ($630,000) — sit in the $600,001 to $750,000 concession band, where partial duty relief still applies.
We see buyers come in with a suburb shortlist based on the house median, then realise after the first conversation that a unit in the same suburb sits well inside their reach. The research starts with houses, but the purchase often ends up being a unit — and for first home buyers here, that's usually the smarter financial starting point anyway.
Evelyn Clark · Director, Mortgage & Finance Broker · Chat to Evelyn →
Which suburbs saw the strongest price growth over the past 12 months?
Among house markets with a reliable sample size, Sandringham (+14.35%, 96 sales) and Balaclava (+14.33%, 43 sales) recorded the strongest growth over the year to June 2026. Elsternwick (+9.00%, 76 sales) and Cheltenham (+8.23%, 278 sales) also moved meaningfully.
A handful of results carry a caution. Glen Huntly houses recorded +25.21% growth on only 12 sales — a thin sample where a single high-priced transaction can shift the median significantly. Middle Park houses (+20.59%, 68 sales) and Caulfield units (+26.05%, 67 sales) show similar mix-shift patterns. Where a growth figure looks unusually large, the sample size is the first thing to check.
On the unit side, Albert Park units recorded +18.92% on 34 sales, and Hampton units +18.52% on 130 sales — the latter being a more reliable result given the larger pool.
Suburbs where prices moved down:
- › St Kilda houses:-9.75% over the year, though the unit market held, up 2.40% across 659 sales.
- › Toorak: houses -17.33% and units -37.42% — both likely reflect sales-mix shifts at the top end rather than a genuine price fall.
- › Prahran units:-10.91%, Murrumbeena units -22.41% — both warrant caution before drawing conclusions.
- › Elwood houses:-11.30%, Armadale houses -11.48%, Malvern houses -15.01% — all in the premium segment where mix-shift effects are common.
What do these medians mean for your deposit and borrowing in South East Melbourne?
The $950,000 price cap on the First Home Guarantee and Family Home Guarantee covers units in 22 of the 28 approved suburbs, but not a single house in the entire dataset. The cheapest house median, Moorabbin at $1,280,000, sits $330,000 above the cap. For first home buyers, this means schemes apply exclusively to units — and at the stamp duty level, only to units priced under $750,000.
At a 10% deposit on a $512,000 unit in St Kilda, a buyer needs roughly $51,200 plus purchase costs. At 20% they avoid lenders mortgage insurance entirely. On a $1,298,750 house in Cheltenham at a 20% deposit, the number rises to around $260,000 before costs — a figure that puts many buyers into guarantor territory or requires a longer savings window.
The suburb you choose also determines which lender policies are relevant. Higher-priced suburbs can push buyers toward specialist lenders or larger deposit requirements; lower-priced unit suburbs open access to more of the mainstream panel and lower LMI costs where LMI applies.
Deposit and cap positions at a glance:
- › Under $600,000 (full duty exemption for first home buyers): Ripponlea, St Kilda, Prahran, Windsor, South Yarra, Oakleigh and Balaclava units.
- › $600,001–$750,000 (partial duty concession): Elsternwick, Armadale, Cheltenham, Glen Huntly, Murrumbeena, Carnegie and several others.
- › Under $950,000 but above $750,000 (cap-eligible, full duty applies): Bentleigh units at $935,000, Middle Park units at $797,500, Malvern units at $785,000 and Moorabbin units at $770,000.
- › Above $950,000 (no scheme access): all 28 house medians, plus Brighton, Hampton, Albert Park, Caulfield and Toorak units.
Source: CoreLogic (via YIP, June 2026) and State Revenue Office Victoria.
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How do the established and premium suburb medians compare?
The premium corridor — Toorak, Brighton, Middle Park, Malvern, Sandringham and Albert Park — carries house medians between $2,397,500 and $4,960,000. These suburbs attract buyers with significant equity behind them, often upgrading from a lower-priced suburb in the same area or using an existing property as security.
Brighton houses recorded a median of $3,250,000 across 238 sales — the largest high-end sample in the dataset — while Middle Park houses moved up to $3,075,000 on 68 sales and Albert Park to $2,397,500. Sandringham's house median grew 14.35% to $2,430,000, supported by good sales volume and proximity to Sandringham station and the bay.
The inner-south mid-tier
Elsternwick, Malvern, Armadale, Glen Iris and Bentleigh form the mid-premium band, with house medians between $1,755,000 and $2,460,000. Glen Iris is notable for its large sample — 223 house sales — and steady 2.39% growth to $2,460,000. Bentleigh units at $935,000 are the closest of any approved suburb to the $950,000 cap and represent a genuine scheme-eligible entry point with good rail access at Bentleigh and Patterson stations.
For buyers at this price point, lender choice starts to matter in specific ways. Some lenders apply tighter LVR policies above $2,000,000, and cross-collateralisation risks come into play for buyers using existing equity. Getting the structure right from the start is usually the difference between a clean exit later and a complicated one.
What do these medians mean for government schemes in South East Melbourne?
The $950,000 price cap on the First Home Guarantee (now the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme) and the Family Home Guarantee applies identically across all 28 approved postcodes — every suburb here returns the Victorian capital-city cap when checked through the firsthomebuyers.gov.au postcode tool.
The schemes available to South East Melbourne buyers:
- › First Home Guarantee (5% Deposit Scheme): 5% deposit, no income test, no LMI. Applies to units priced under $950,000 — not to any house in the dataset.
- › Family Home Guarantee: single parents, 2% deposit, no LMI, same $950,000 cap. Does not require first home buyer status.
- › First Home Owner Grant:$10,000, new homes only, $750,000 price cap. Realistically applies to off-the-plan unit purchases in the area.
- › First home buyer duty exemption: full exemption under $600,000, partial concession to $750,000. Available on new and established properties.
- › Help to Buy: federal shared-equity scheme, income caps $103,000 single / $165,000 joint, $950,000 price cap in all approved suburbs. The Victorian Homebuyer Fund is closed to new participants — Help to Buy is the only shared-equity pathway open here.
Source: Housing Australia and State Revenue Office Victoria.
When do these medians not tell the whole story?
A suburb median is an average of all settled sales in a 12-month window, so it hides the spread. A suburb with a $1,900,000 house median likely contains properties ranging from $1,200,000 to $3,500,000 or more. The median tells you where most of the market sat, not what the cheapest or the most expensive properties cost.
Thin sample sizes are the other distortion. Glen Huntly's +25.21% house growth is based on 12 sales. Ripponlea's house median rests on 7. A single atypical transaction in a small pool can shift a median by $100,000 or more, and the movement may not repeat. Gardenvale's house and unit figures both carry thin-sample flags and aren't reliable enough to lead with in a suburb comparison.
For investors, median house prices don't tell you anything about rental yield, vacancy rates or the income a property actually generates — those sit outside what this data covers. A suburb can have strong capital growth and weak yield, or the reverse. The decision to buy in a particular suburb for investment purposes rests on both columns together, not just the price column.
When a buyer tells me they can't afford to buy in a suburb, I usually ask whether they've looked at units as well as houses. In almost every case, the unit market in that same suburb either works for them outright, or gets them close enough that we can solve the rest with the right lender. The median house price and the entry price are two different numbers.
Evelyn Clark · Director, Mortgage & Finance Broker · Chat to Evelyn →
How does a mortgage broker help you act on these medians in South East Melbourne?
Knowing a suburb's median is the starting point, not the answer. The next question is what a lender will actually assess your application for in that suburb, which depends on your income type, your deposit source, your existing debts and which lender you approach.
Step 1: Talk to us
We start by mapping your borrowing position against the suburbs you're considering, so you know which price points are realistic and which schemes apply to your situation.
Step 2: Assess your position against the market
We look at your income, your deposit and any existing commitments alongside the suburb medians to identify which suburbs and property types are within reach — and by how much.
Step 3: Match you to the right lender and structure
We canvas the 60+ lender panel for the policy that best fits your purchase price, suburb and property type, including lenders that assess off-the-plan units or higher-value purchases differently from the mainstream.
Step 4: Support you from offer to settlement
We manage the approval process, liaise with the lender on your behalf and keep you informed through to settlement — so the gap between "I can see myself buying here" and "the keys are mine" closes as smoothly as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the First Home Guarantee available for house purchases in South East Melbourne?
No — every house median across the 28 approved suburbs sits above the $950,000 price cap. The scheme applies to units only in South East Melbourne, which is why first-home buying here is predominantly a unit story.
Which South East Melbourne suburb has the most affordable unit median?
Ripponlea recorded the lowest unit median at $470,000, followed by Prahran at $500,000 and St Kilda at $512,000. All three sit under the $600,000 duty-free threshold for first home buyers.
Do South East Melbourne suburb medians affect how much a lender will let me borrow?
Indirectly, yes — the suburb affects the lender's valuation, and some lenders apply different LVR policies in high-density postcodes or above certain price thresholds. Your borrowing capacity is set by your income and debts, but which lender is willing to go to that capacity depends partly on where you're buying.
Should a South East Melbourne buyer use the median house price or unit price to set their budget?
Use both, because they're genuinely different markets. A suburb's unit median can be $700,000 to $900,000 lower than its house median, and each has different scheme eligibility, duty outcomes and lender panel requirements. Starting with only one gives you an incomplete picture.
Is a South East Melbourne suburb with high recent growth necessarily the best one to buy in?
Not automatically. High growth on a thin sample — under 20 sales — often reflects a single atypical transaction, not a market trend. Look at the sales volume alongside the growth figure, and treat single-digit sample results with caution.
Is a mortgage broker or a bank the better starting point for understanding what a suburb's median means for my borrowing?
A mortgage broker, every time. A bank can only tell you what it will do; a broker compares across 60+ lenders and knows which ones apply different LVR policies or valuations in the suburb you're targeting — which directly affects how much you can borrow and on what terms.
Your Next Steps
The suburb medians across South East Melbourne give you a framework, but the purchase decision sits in the gap between a median and a lender's assessment — and that gap is different for every buyer depending on their income, their deposit and the property type they're targeting. Getting that picture clear before you commit to a suburb makes the rest of the process considerably less complicated.
Ready to find out which lenders will work best for your situation and the suburbs you're considering? Contact the EverLend team or call 03 7036 3356. We'll canvas our 60+ lender panel and find the most suitable options for your circumstances.
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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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