Melbourne inner east ยท VIC 3141
Buyers agent in South Yarra
The weakest numbers on this entire list, and the clearest apartment oversupply story in Melbourne.
Figures below are July 2026, suburb level, all bedroom counts. Full Stonnington council report.
The South Yarra numbers
Houses
$1,965,665
Typical price
$1,176
Weekly rent
3.11%
Gross yield
-1.1%
Growth a year, 10yr
-5.9%
Growth, last 12mth
185
Sales a year
Units
$828,689
Typical price
$749
Weekly rent
4.70%
Gross yield
-1.9%
Growth a year, 10yr
-3.9%
Growth, last 12mth
1,162
Sales a year
Vacancy rate 2.31% across roughly 21,903 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
Houses down 1.1% a year over ten years. Units down 1.9% a year over ten years. Both negative over one, three, five and ten. There is no timeframe on which South Yarra has grown.
The reason is sitting in the sales volume. 1,162 unit sales a year in a suburb of 21,903 dwellings. That is an enormous amount of apartment stock turning over, and much of it is competing with newly built apartment stock that hasn't sold yet.
Vacancy at 2.31% is the loosest of the twelve suburbs here. When you have that much supply and that many landlords, the tenant sets the price.
I get asked about South Yarra a lot, usually by someone who has been shown a glossy off the plan brochure. The honest answer is that this is the market I would most actively steer a client away from.
Who South Yarra suits
Renters, frankly. It's a great place to rent and a difficult place to have bought.
What I'd watch
Off the plan apartments. If someone is selling you a South Yarra apartment with a rental guarantee, the guarantee exists because the market needs one.
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 South Yarra, answered
Why have South Yarra apartments performed so badly?
Supply. About 1,162 units trade each year in a suburb of 21,903 dwellings, and new apartment towers have kept adding stock. When supply keeps arriving, existing owners compete with developers who can discount. Unit values are down 1.9% a year over the decade.
Would you buy in South Yarra?
Not for an investment client, no. Every growth measure over every timeframe is negative and vacancy is the highest of any suburb on this site at 2.31%. If you already own here I'm happy to look at your position honestly, but I wouldn't be adding to it.
Are South Yarra houses different to the apartments?
Slightly better and still negative. Houses are down 1.1% a year over ten years against 1.9% for units. The house market at $1.97m is a much smaller and more distinct market than the apartment towers, but it hasn't escaped the drag.
Other Melbourne suburbs
Same treatment, same data, different answer in every one of them.