Melbourne CBD fringe ยท VIC 3002

Buyers agent in East Melbourne

Three million dollars for a decade of nothing, in the best preserved streets in Melbourne.

Figures below are August 2026, suburb level, all bedroom counts. Full Melbourne council report.

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The East Melbourne numbers

Houses

$3,004,419

Typical price

$1,232

Weekly rent

2.13%

Gross yield

+0.1%

Growth a year, 10yr

+1.2%

Growth, last 12mth

47

Sales a year

Units

$1,087,011

Typical price

$774

Weekly rent

3.70%

Gross yield

-1.7%

Growth a year, 10yr

-5.1%

Growth, last 12mth

247

Sales a year

Vacancy rate 1.00% across roughly 4,732 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

The typical East Melbourne house is $3,004,419 and has grown 0.15% a year over ten years. Not a typo. Fifteen hundredths of one percent.

Five years is worse at minus 1.81% a year, three years at minus 1.91%.

The yield is 2.13%, about $1,232 a week against three million dollars.

The units are worse in every direction. $1,087,011, minus 1.73% a year over ten years, and minus 5.05% in the last twelve months alone. There are 247 unit sales a year against 47 house sales.

Vacancy is 1.00%, which is tight, and rent growth over the decade is 2.57% a year, which is weak. Both true at once.

47 house sales a year across about 4,732 dwellings, and the house figures carry a Medium confidence rating because the sample is small.

Who East Melbourne suits

Someone who wants to live in Melbourne's most beautiful streets, next to the Fitzroy Gardens and the MCG, and for whom that is worth three million dollars. Fair enough. It is a lovely part of the city.

What I'd watch

The apartment market especially. Minus 5.05% in twelve months and minus 1.73% a year over ten. If someone is selling you an East Melbourne apartment on the address, the address has not been paying.

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
How the process runs

Fair questions

Buying in East Melbourne, answered

How can East Melbourne have gone nowhere?

Because prestige and performance are different things. It is one of the most desirable addresses in the city and it has grown 0.15% a year for ten years. Those two facts sit together more often than people expect.

Would you buy here for an investor?

No. A 2.13% yield on a $3m asset that has done 0.15% a year for a decade is not an investment case in any form I can construct. For a home, if you love it and can afford it, that is your call and I would negotiate hard on your behalf.

Is the rental market good?

Vacancy is 1.00%, which is tight. Rent growth is 2.57% a year over the decade, which is weak. So it always rents, and it does not rent for much more each year.

Other Melbourne suburbs

Same treatment, same data, different answer in every one of them.

Thinking seriously about East Melbourne? Read the full Melbourne council report before you look at a single listing.

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