Melbourne inner north ยท VIC 3056
Buyers agent in Brunswick
Tightest rental market on this list, and the apartments have quietly beaten the houses.
Figures below are August 2026, suburb level, all bedroom counts. Full Merri-bek council report.
The Brunswick numbers
Houses
$1,394,180
Typical price
$912
Weekly rent
3.40%
Gross yield
+2.3%
Growth a year, 10yr
+4.2%
Growth, last 12mth
321
Sales a year
Units
$743,436
Typical price
$648
Weekly rent
4.53%
Gross yield
+2.6%
Growth a year, 10yr
+3.4%
Growth, last 12mth
509
Sales a year
Vacancy rate 1.08% across roughly 17,149 dwellings. HtAG Analytics, suburb level, all bedroom counts. Typical price is a modelled estimate, not a median of recent sales.
The honest read
What I'd tell you over a coffee
Brunswick vacancy sits at 1.08%. That is genuinely tight, and it is the number that makes this suburb work.
Houses have grown 2.34% a year over ten years at $1,394,180, on a 3.40% gross yield, which is a better yield than anything else in the inner north on this list.
The units have done 2.64% a year at $743,436 on a 4.53% yield. Better growth and better yield than the houses, at half the price.
That is worth sitting with. In most of Melbourne the apartment market is where growth goes to die. In Brunswick it has outperformed, and 509 unit sales a year says a lot of people have already worked that out.
The last twelve months have turned up, 4.23% on houses. Five years is still only 0.27% a year, so this is a recent move rather than a long trend.
321 house sales a year across about 17,149 dwellings. Deep enough market, and a rental pool that clears at 1.08% vacancy.
Who Brunswick suits
Investors who want an inner suburb where the rent actually holds up, and owner occupiers who want to be in Brunswick without paying Fitzroy prices.
What I'd watch
The five year number at 0.27% a year. The recent twelve months look good but the middle of the decade was flat, and there is plenty of new apartment supply in the Merri-bek pipeline.
How I work
- Flat $20,000 fee, whatever you buy and wherever it is
- No commissions from agents, developers or builders
- I'll tell you when a suburb doesn't stack up, including this one
Fair questions
Buying in Brunswick, answered
Are Brunswick apartments actually a good buy?
On the last decade, better than the houses. 2.64% a year against 2.34%, on a 4.53% yield against 3.40%, at $743,436 against $1,394,180. That is not the usual Melbourne story, so check it building by building rather than taking the suburb average.
How tight is the rental market?
1.08% vacancy, the tightest on this list apart from Beaumaris. Rent has grown 3.99% a year on houses over the decade.
Is Brunswick worth it over Coburg?
Coburg has done better on growth, 3.76% a year against 2.34%, and it is cheaper at $1,303,537. Brunswick has the tighter rental market, 1.08% against 1.38%. If it is an investment, look at Coburg first. If you want to live in Brunswick, that is a different question and a fair one.
Other Melbourne suburbs
Same treatment, same data, different answer in every one of them.
- Truganina
- Craigieburn
- Blairgowrie
- Langwarrin
- Hallam
- Coburg
- Glenroy
- Moonee Ponds
- Altona
- Murrumbeena
- Yarraville
- Brighton East
- Beaumaris
- Blackburn
- Doncaster
- Highett
- Black Rock
- Seddon
- Balwyn
- Port Melbourne
- Ringwood
- Ripponlea
- Sandringham
- Fitzroy
- Caulfield
- St Kilda
- Malvern
- East Melbourne
- Brighton
- Hawthorn East
- Balaclava
- Hawthorn
- Malvern East
- Box Hill
- South Yarra