Free market report · Data to July 2026
Colac Otway property market
Colac Otway is one of the 453 council areas we track on the Australian property clock. This page is the plain-numbers read: where it sits in the cycle, who lives there, what's being built, and the suburbs inside it.
Houses · cycle position
Peak
The Colac Otway house market is growing at its fastest pace in the current cycle. That is a momentum reading, not a crash call: markets can sit at peak growth for a long time before easing.
-8% to +16%
Modelled 12-month price range
+3.0%
Modelled 12-month rent change
Units · cycle position
Bottom
The unit market is at the deepest point of its decline. Historically, this is the phase where the best entries have been made, and also where the least certainty exists.
-5% to +5%
Modelled 12-month price range
+2.5%
Modelled 12-month rent change
The clock measures growth momentum, not price. Peak means growing fastest, not about to fall. See Colac Otway on the clock.
The people
Who lives in Colac Otway.
Population · ABS estimates
22,209
People (2025)
-0.1%
Growth per year, last 5 years
Population has been shrinking. That is the single biggest caution flag in this report.
Households · Census 2021
45
Median age
$1,277
Median household income per week
75% own or are paying off their home, 21% rent. An owner-occupier market at heart, which tends to steady prices through the cycle.
New supply
What's being approved to build.
Building approvals are tomorrow's supply. A market where approvals are falling while population grows is a market where pressure builds. The reverse deserves caution.
Dwellings approved · ABS
185 of the latest year's approvals were houses. Approvals are trending up: more supply is coming.
Jobs and investment
Who's working, and what's being spent.
Jobs pay mortgages and rents. Government and commercial building spend is where future jobs come from: schools, hospitals, shops and factories all get approved before they get built.
Jobs · SALM, March 2026
10,801
Employed residents
1.6%
Unemployment (national 4.2%)
1,150 fewer residents are in work than five years ago (-9.6%). A shrinking job base is the thing to understand before anything else on this page.
Non-residential building approved · ABS
$29m
All sectors, FY26
$9m
Public sector (government projects)
| Year | Government | All non-residential |
|---|---|---|
| FY24 | $7m | $63m |
| FY25 | $3m | $17m |
| FY26 | $9m | $29m |
Public building spend here is trending up. Governments build where they expect people. For the named projects behind these numbers, ask for the full report below.
Inside the LGA
The suburbs of Colac Otway.
We hold live snapshot data for one suburb in Colac Otway. Click through for the full numbers.
| Suburb | Typical price | Rent/wk | Gross yield | 1yr growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colac | $514,396 | $493 | 5.0% | +7% |
All 70 suburbs and localities in Colac Otway
Aire Valley · Alvie · Apollo Bay · Balintore · Barongarook · Barongarook West · Barramunga · Barunah Plains · Barwon Downs · Beeac · Beech Forest · Birregurra · Bungador · Cape Otway · Carlisle River · Carpendeit · Chapple Vale · Colac · Colac East · Colac West · Coragulac · Cororooke · Corunnun · Cundare · Cundare North · Dreeite · Dreeite South · Elliminyt · Eurack · Ferguson · Forrest · Gellibrand · Gerangamete · Glenaire · Grey River · Hordern Vale · Irrewarra · Irrewillipe · Irrewillipe East · Johanna · Kawarren · Kennett River · Larpent · Lavers Hill · Marengo · Mount Sabine · Murroon · Nalangil · Ondit · Petticoat Creek · Separation Creek · Skenes Creek · Skenes Creek North · Stonyford · Sugarloaf · Swan Marsh · Tanybryn · Warncoort · Warrion · Weeaproinah · Weering · Whoorel · Wingeel · Wongarra · Wool Wool · Wye River · Wyelangta · Yeo · Yeodene · Yuulong
Free · Pulled together by hand
Want the full workup on Colac Otway?
This page is the public data. The full report is the licensed feed: 10 years of prices, rents and vacancy over time, days on market, demand, and the supply pipeline, for Colac Otway or any suburb in it. Same data we run for clients. I pull it and email it through, usually within a business day. No charge, and no 14-part email sequence after it.
General information only, not financial or investment advice. Cycle positions and projections are modelled LGA-level figures to July 2026 (licensed market analytics). Population and approvals are ABS estimates; employment is SALM smoothed data; income, age and tenure are Census 2021. None of it can see street quality, flood maps, zoning or the contract, which is where deals are actually won and lost. Get advice on your own situation before acting.
Data finds the area. It doesn't buy the house.
We narrow 15,000 suburbs to the top 5 for each client, then find the street and the property. If Colac Otway is on your list, that's a conversation worth having early.