Chelsea Heights: $1.12m median house price, plus flood, zoning and school-zone checks
Chelsea Heights median house price: $1,122,300 in the Jan–Mar 2026 quarter, from 12 sales (Valuer-General Victoria), up 13.9% on the Jan–Mar 2025 quarter. Median unit price: $795,500 (calendar year 2025). Median rent: $412 a week (ABS Census 2021, older than the price figures). Postcode 3196.
What stands out: Part of Chelsea Heights is under an Environmental Audit Overlay (potentially contaminated land); a flood-related overlay covers 26% of the suburb's land (Vicmap Planning).
Page updated · market data to Mar 2026
- Zoning: mostly Neighbourhood Residential zone (NRZ7), 44% of the land
- Planning change: no rezoning or new overlays recorded since 2017
- School zones: parts of Chelsea Heights are zoned for Aspendale Gardens Primary School and Chelsea Heights Primary School (+2 more) (primary); Mordialloc College and Patterson River Secondary College (secondary)
- Getting there: 62 min to South Yarra by public transport (modelled)
- House median
- $1,122,300
- Mar qtr 2026 · up 13.9% on Mar qtr 2025
- Higher than 53% of the 423 Greater Melbourne suburbs with a reliable house median · 12 sales in the quarter
- Valuer-General Victoria
- Unit median
- $795,500
- calendar year 2025 · up 7.4% on calendar year 2024
- Higher than 74% of the 319 Greater Melbourne suburbs with a reliable unit median · 14 sales in the year
- Valuer-General Victoria
- Median rent
- $412/wk
- Census 2021 (older)
- Census 2021 median, all rented homes
- Four years older than the price figures; not directly comparable.
- ABS Census 2021
- Gross yield
- 1.9%
- 2021 rent / Mar qtr 2026 price
- Indicative only.
- Calculated by Delora from the two figures above
- Planning risk
- Flood 26% HighBushfire 0% Very lowHeritage 0% Very low
- share of suburb land area
- 2 suburb-specific overlays to check
- Vicmap Planning
- Getting around
- 2.0 km to nearest station
- 62 min to South Yarra by public transport (modelled)
- 4 zoned primary, 2 secondary schools
- PTV timetable data · Delora commute model · Victorian Department of Education school zones
Check an address in Chelsea HeightsCompare with another suburb
Chelsea Heights is an established suburb with an older, more settled population — median age 40, more socio-economically advantaged than most areas on the ABS's SEIFA index. Housing is a mix of dwelling types, houses making up the largest share. The area is still light on cafés, shops and other everyday amenity. It's not served by train or tram.
Ready to look at a specific property here? See the due diligence hub for what to verify before you sign.
Scope: Victoria, Australia. Suburb data here is Victorian (state valuer, rental, planning and school records); Greater Melbourne comparison group.
In this profile
- Planning and riskZones, overlays, flood and bushfire, and what is planned nearby, with an address check.
- Prices and rentsMedian prices and rents, how they have moved, and sales volume.
- SchoolsThe government school zones that cover the suburb.
- Living hereTransport, commute times, who lives here and the suburbs nearby.
- Before you buyThe checks every purchase needs, common questions and guides.
Is Chelsea Heights in a flood, bushfire or heritage area?
Chelsea Heights has relatively light heritage-overlay coverage (about 0%), though it can still apply to individual parcels. It also carries meaningful flood-overlay coverage (about 26% of the suburb).
Suburb-wide shares of the land, not a check of any one address.
Flood-related overlays can add building rules and raise insurance cost.
Share of the suburb. Source: Vicmap Planning · Verify this address
If it applies it adds bushfire construction requirements (a BAL rating) and cost.
Share of the suburb. Source: Vicmap Planning · Verify this address
In a designated bushfire prone area a minimum construction standard applies to new homes, based on the bushfire attack level (BAL). (Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria), verified 22 Oct 2026) So building or rebuilding there means working out the home’s BAL and pricing in what meeting it costs.
Share of the suburb. Source: Designated Bushfire Prone Area (DataVic) · Verify this address
Changes to the outside of a building, and demolition, need council approval.
Share of the suburb. Source: Vicmap Planning · Verify this address
On summer mornings in 2017–18 the ground surface across Chelsea Heights averaged 9.0 °C above the non-urban baseline, hotter than 66% of metropolitan Melbourne suburbs. (Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub, for the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, verified 23 Oct 2026) Tree cover was 9.2%, less tree cover than 67% of these suburbs.
It measures the surface, not the air temperature, and is a guide to exposure, not a forecast. (Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub, for the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, verified 23 Oct 2026) Streets vary: Address Check shows the figure for an address.
Averaged over the suburb’s mesh blocks. Source: Urban Heat Islands and Urban Vegetation 2018 (DataVic)
Worth checking in Chelsea Heights
Potentially contaminated land (EAO)
An Environmental Audit Overlay applies to part of Chelsea Heights — usually former industrial or commercial land. A satisfactory environmental audit can be required before it’s used for a home; confirm whether the property sits within it.
Flood / inundation overlay risk
Roughly 26% of Chelsea Heights carries a flood-related overlay. Confirm the land isn’t in a Land Subject to Inundation Overlay (LSIO) or Special Building Overlay (SBO) — both affect insurance, build height and what you can construct.
Zoning mix and building controls
Land use across the suburb (planning zones)
- Zoning
- Residential
- mostly Neighbourhood Residential Zone – Schedule 7 (NRZ7) · 44% of the suburb
Planning overlays that can affect building, renovating or removing vegetation somewhere in Chelsea Heights — confirm whether any apply to the specific address.
- Vegetation Protection Overlay — a permit is needed to remove or lop protected trees
- Environmental Significance Overlay — environmental values that constrain development
Planning changes in Chelsea Heights: none recorded since 2017
No zone changes or new planning overlays have been recorded on land in Chelsea Heights since 2017 — its planning rules have stayed put over the period we track. That stability is itself worth knowing.
Source: Vicmap Planning Scheme History (2017–present). How Melbourne’s zoning actually changed over the decade →
- Suburb
- Flood
Layers on this map, as a table
| Layer | Share of suburb | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Suburb boundary | The whole suburb | ABS SAL 2021 |
| Flood overlay | 26% | Vicmap Planning |
Overlay colours reflect how much of the suburb an overlay covers — green under ~8%, amber ~8–20%, red above 20%. Public-acquisition, contamination (EAO) and floodway overlays are listed above under "Worth checking" wherever they apply, because even a small area can include a specific property. Source: Vicmap Planning. What do these terms mean? · How to verify planning controls for an address
What do homes cost in Chelsea Heights?
Market pulse: is Chelsea Heights busier or quieter than a year ago?
VGV sales to Mar 2026 · ABS approvals to Aug 2026
| Measure | Change | What it's based on |
|---|---|---|
| House prices | Not measured | Fewer than 20 sales in the Jan–Mar 2026 quarter or the same quarter a year earlier: too few to compare. |
| Houses sold | 0.0% · about the same | 54 houses sold in the four quarters to Mar 2026, against 54 in the four quarters before. |
| Unit prices | Not measured | The Valuer-General published no median for this suburb for the Jan–Mar 2026 quarter, the latest quarter in its release. |
| New homes approved (council) | −27.8% · fewer | 465 dwellings approved across the council Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, against 644 in the 12 months before. |
What sales volume tells you → Reading rental demand →
Over 5 years the calendar-year median house price went from $805,000 (2020) to $1,000,000 (2025), +24.2% or about +4.4% a year.
Checking an asking price in Chelsea Heights
A suburb median is the middle sale, not the value of any one home.
- Ask the agent for the Property Price Statement (a listing from before the change may still carry a Statement of Information (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 27 Sep 2026)). It gives an indicative price and the three most comparable sales (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026), and since it replaced the Statement of Information in the 2026 underquoting reform it also lists the bedrooms, bathrooms, floor area and land size of each comparable home (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 27 Sep 2026).
- Check those sales really are comparable: a similar standard of home, sold within 2 km in the last 6 months in metropolitan Melbourne, or within 5 km in the last 18 months elsewhere (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026).
- An advertised price is a guide only, and a home selling above it isn't by itself proof of underquoting (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026).
What open data can't tell you
Auction clearance rates, days on market, the number of homes for sale and how far sellers drop their price are not published as open government data. They come from private listing and data companies under paid licences, so Delora doesn't show them. For a home you're looking at, ask the agent how long it has been listed, whether it was passed in at auction, and what its first price guide was.
How the market pulse is worked out
Prices compare the latest quarterly median with the same quarter a year earlier, using only quarters with at least 20 sales and no thin-market flag from the Valuer-General. A direction is called only when the quarter before agrees: both changes at least +3% is rising, both at most −3% is falling, both within 3% is about the same, anything else is mixed. Sales compare the latest four quarters with the four before (a change of 10% or more counts as more or fewer). Sales are counted when they settle (Valuer-General Victoria / Land Use Victoria, verified 29 Jul 2026), so these figures trail contracts signed in the last few months.
Rents are the Rental Report's moving-annual median for all homes, from new lettings only (Homes Victoria / Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, verified 29 Jul 2026), compared with the same quarter a year earlier (3% band); new leases use a 10% band. Dwelling approvals are the ABS count for the whole council, not this suburb; an approval is the permit to start building, not a finished home (Australian Bureau of Statistics, verified 27 Sep 2026) (10% band). The reading at the top uses the price direction and sales count of houses, or of units where houses have no comparable figure.
Sources: Victorian Property Sales Report (data.vic), Rental Report (data.vic), ABS Building Approvals (all CC BY 4.0).
| Median house price (Mar qtr 2026) | $1,122,300 |
|---|---|
| Stamp duty | $61,726 |
| Land Use Victoria transfer and mortgage fees | $2,859.20 |
| Government costs on top of the price | $64,585.20 |
Work out your own figure in the stamp duty calculator →
Price outlook: what the Chelsea Heights median could be in 3 and 5 years
Start from the 2025 calendar-year median house price here, $1,000,000. For suburbs like Chelsea Heights, three-year outcomes since 2016 put the 2028 median between $979,567 and $1,454,760 in about 76% of cases (the range was aimed at 80%; that is how often it held on years it had not seen), with $1,194,330 in the middle. The chance the median is lower than today in three years is about 12%: a low chance, not a remote one. A large part of that spread is the market rather than the suburb: 35% of the variation in three-year outcomes across Victorian suburbs is explained by the year the clock started.
| Horizon | Range (aimed at 80%) | Middle | Chance it is lower | Range held on unseen years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In 3 years (2028) | $979,567 to $1,454,760 | $1,194,330 (+19%) | 12% | 76% of 7 years |
| In 5 years (2030) | $1,159,543 to $1,666,043 | $1,356,543 (+36%) | 2% | 74% of 5 years |
How to use this
- If you might need to sell within three years, the bottom of the range and the chance of a lower median are the figures that matter most, with selling costs on top.
- The range is for the suburb's median, not for one home. A home bought above the median, or one with a problem the address report turns up, can do worse than the suburb.
- A wide range is the honest answer. A single-number forecast for a suburb hides this spread; treat one as a middle value with a range like this around it.
How the price outlook is worked out
The model starts from the Valuer-General's calendar-year median house price for every Victorian suburb with one (Valuer-General Victoria / Land Use Victoria, verified 29 Jul 2026), from 2016 onward. For each year and suburb it asks what happened to the median three and five years later, and relates that to what was knowable at the time: the suburb's one- and three-year price momentum, its price level against the state, a fair-value gap (the residual of a within-year regression of price on slow suburb characteristics: socio-economic index, distance to the CBD and the coast, income, education and commuting), gross rental yield where the Rental Report covers the suburb, and the socio-economic index and distance to the CBD themselves. Quantile regression estimates the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles directly.
Every year is then held out in turn: the model is refitted without that year's outcomes and its ranges are checked against them. The published range is the model's middle plus the 10th and 90th percentiles of those held-out errors, so the range was tuned to contain 80% of past outcomes (conformal calibration); the "range held" figure is measured on years the calibration never saw. "Chance it is lower" is the share of held-out errors that would leave the median below the starting price. Across 773 suburbs and 7 starting years (2016 to 2022), the 80% range held 76% of the time and the 50% range 45%. The three-year range held 76%, short of the 80% it was aimed at, so read it as somewhat too narrow: the real chance of an outcome outside it is closer to 24% than 20%. The five-year range held 74%, short of the 80% it was aimed at, so read it as somewhat too narrow: the real chance of an outcome outside it is closer to 26% than 20%.
| Bought, then sold | Suburbs | Inside the range aimed at 80% | Inside the range aimed at 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 to 2019 | 745 | 80% | 57% |
| 2017 to 2020 | 766 | 89% | 71% |
| 2018 to 2021 | 782 | 80% | 47% |
| 2019 to 2022 | 786 | 61% | 29% |
| 2020 to 2023 | 786 | 84% | 62% |
| 2021 to 2024 | 777 | 93% | 37% |
| 2022 to 2025 | 771 | 45% | 11% |
Limits. A short run of yearly medians gives only 7 starting years, so the market effect is estimated from that many draws and the ranges are wide. Suburb characteristics other than momentum and yield are held at today's values for past years. A median from few sales is noisy, and VGV's thin-market medians are left out. The model is calibrated on 2016-2025; a market without precedent in that period can fall outside every range. It never values an individual home.
Model outlook-qr-v1, run 2026-10-27. Source: Victorian Property Sales Report, time series (data.vic), CC BY 4.0. The code is analysis/price_outlook.py in Delora's repository.
General information, not financial advice. It describes how suburb medians have behaved, not what any home will sell for.
How Chelsea Heights compares
Where Chelsea Heights ranks against other Greater Melbourne suburbs Delora covers, on the measures buyers ask about — a higher bar isn’t always “better”, it’s just where this suburb sits.
Show recorded crime and amenity-density comparisons
New development pipeline: ~59 new dwellings · 1 major project · 0% apartments
Major residential redevelopment tracked by the Victorian Government (UDP 2025) — infill and apartment/townhouse sites, not greenfield house-and-land estates.
Modelled price context: the median is 14% below the model's estimate
current median
modelled fundamentals estimate, from Chelsea Heights's own fundamentals
Even on the more cautious end of the model's uncertainty range, Chelsea Heights still models at least 8% below its estimated fundamentals.
This is a suburb-level estimate, not a valuation of any property and not a prediction. See the methodology below.
Suburbs with the largest modelled gap → What drives this price? → Why do estimates never agree? → Checking a specific listing's price →
See what's driving that number (methodology)
This model compares Chelsea Heights with a typical Greater Melbourne suburb on the things buyers actually care about — location, transport, schools, incomes and risk — then estimates a dollar figure for the difference. These are the factors contributing most to the estimate above. The model carries genuine uncertainty (see the range noted above) and describes the suburb, not any specific property in it.
Which school zones cover Chelsea Heights?
Parts of Chelsea Heights fall within 4 primary and 2 secondary government school catchments. 1 school is located within the suburb (1 government).
Government schools have address-based catchment zones; Catholic and independent schools set their own enrolment processes.
| Zone | Covers | Boundary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary school zones | |||
| Chelsea Heights Primary School | 94% | — | |
| Aspendale Gardens Primary School | 6% | — | |
| Secondary school zones | |||
| Patterson River Secondary College | 61% | — | |
| Mordialloc College | 39% | — | |
How well connected is Chelsea Heights?
0 train, 0 tram and 41 bus stop points sit inside the suburb (PTV timetable data).
- Distance to the CBD
- ~29 km
- from the suburb centre
- Getting around
- 0 train · 0 tram · 41 bus
- nearest train station ~2.0 km · counts are stop points, not stations (a station is often several)
- Train frequency
- every 11 min
- at the nearest station, weekday AM peak
- Tram frequency
- every 6 min
- at the nearest stop, weekday AM peak
- Schools
- 1
- primary & secondary
- Nearest Centrelink
- ~9.5 km
- outside the suburb
| Job hub | Minutes |
|---|---|
| South Yarra | 62 min |
| Dandenong | 69 min |
| Clayton (Monash University) | 75 min |
| Cremorne | 82 min |
| Docklands | 82 min |
| Melbourne CBD | 82 min |
Show all 13 job hubs
| Job hub | Minutes |
|---|---|
| Mulgrave | 82 min |
| Parkville | 82 min |
| South Melbourne | 82 min |
| Southbank | 82 min |
| East Melbourne | 87 min |
| Port Melbourne Industrial | 112 min |
| Preston | 112 min |
Everyday amenity (OpenStreetMap)
- Cafés & amenity density
- 1 cafés
- Low café & amenity density — likely more car-dependent
- Restaurants
- 3
- places to eat nearby
- Supermarkets
- 1
- grocery stores nearby
- Pharmacies
- 1
- chemists nearby
- Parks
- 13
- green space nearby
- Childcare
- 0
- centres nearby
- GP & medical centres
- 1
- nearby
Who lives in Chelsea Heights?
— 5,393 residents · median age 40 · 84% own their home · SEIFA 8/10
- Population
- 5,393
- usual residents (Census 2021)
- Owner-occupied
- 84%
- 84% own, 9% private rent, 2% social, 5% other or not stated
- Median age
- 40 yrs
- of residents
- Personal income
- $805/wk
- median, per week
- Household income
- $1,867/wk
- median, per week
- Avg household size
- 2.6 people
- people per home · 75% family households
- Monthly mortgage
- $2,001/mo
- median repayment
- Taxpayer income
- $64,044/yr
- median taxable income, per year (ATO)
- Population growth
- no data
- Recorded crime
- 77 per 1,000 residents
- a year, across all of Kingston council, not just Chelsea Heights · around the state average
In Chelsea Heights itself: 330 recorded offences in the year to 2026 (Crime Statistics Agency, matched by suburb name and postcode — a closer figure than the council-wide band above, though still a count, not a rate per resident).
Offence category mix (Kingston council's mix, latest year):
- Property and deception offences62%
- Justice procedures offences17%
- Crimes against the person13%
- Drug offences5%
- Public order and security offences4%
- Other offences0%
Recorded offences by year, Chelsea Heights (up 14% since 2019):
| Year | Offences |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 289 |
| 2020 | 375 |
| 2021 | 462 |
| 2022 | 296 |
| 2023 | 309 |
| 2024 | 319 |
| 2025 | 418 |
| 2026 | 330 |
- Median household incomeup 23%
- Median personal incomeup 19%
- Median weekly rentup 21%
- Median ageabout the same
How advantaged the area is
Deciles 1–10 vs all Victorian areas — 10 = most advantaged — from the ABS SEIFA index. A demographic measure, not a house-price one. These three don’t always move together — a suburb with lots of renters or students, for example, can score high on education but lower on income and housing costs.
- Overall advantage
- 8/10
- More advantaged than most
- Economic resources
- 7/10
- income, housing costs & wealth
- Education & occupation
- 7/10
- qualifications & skilled jobs
The homes here
Mix of dwelling types across the suburb (Census 2021)
Who owns and rents here (Census 2021)
More detail on building height and bedroom mix (Census 2021)
Apartment building height (share of all dwellings in the suburb, not just apartments):
- Low-rise (1–2 storeys): 8%
Bedroom mix (share of all occupied dwellings):
- Studio or 1 bedroom: 2%
- 2 bedrooms: 16%
- 3 bedrooms: 50%
- 4 or more bedrooms: 30%
Not sure whether a house, townhouse or apartment suits you? Decide what to buy →
Recorded crime is a council-wide rate — every offence police logged over the latest year (theft, property damage, drug and traffic offences and the like, not only violent crime) divided by the council’s residents. A broad area signal, not a figure for this exact street.
All figures are suburb-level indicators, not property-specific — always confirm the exact address on the Section 32. Sources: ABS Census 2021, Valuer-General Victoria, DFFH Rental Report, Crime Statistics Agency Victoria, Vicmap Planning, Victorian Government UDP, Victorian Department of Education (schools & zones, via data.vic, CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap.
Suburbs near Chelsea Heights
The 6 closest suburbs with a Delora page, by distance between suburb centres.
Compare with nearby suburbs
What should I check before buying in Chelsea Heights?
Overlay and pipeline checks specific to Chelsea Heights are in the Planning and risk tab. Two checks apply to every purchase.
Easements & covenants
Check Section 3 for easements (e.g. drainage/sewer along a boundary — you usually can’t build over them) and restrictive covenants (single-dwelling, materials, height) that limit your plans.
Owners corporation (if applicable)
Apartments and many townhouses in Chelsea Heights are in an owners corporation. If so, the statement must include its certificate — review annual fees, any special levies, the maintenance fund and insurance.
Already under contract in Chelsea Heights?
Questions about Chelsea Heights
What is the median house price in Chelsea Heights?
The median house price in Chelsea Heights was $1,122,300 in the Jan–Mar 2026 quarter (Valuer-General Victoria), up 13.9% on a year earlier. The median unit price was $795,500 (calendar year 2025).
What postcode is Chelsea Heights?
Chelsea Heights is in postcode 3196, in the Kingston council area, Victoria.
What is the population of Chelsea Heights?
Chelsea Heights had 5,393 usual residents at the 2021 Census (ABS), with a median age of 40.
Is Chelsea Heights in a flood zone?
About 26% of Chelsea Heights's land is under a flood-related planning overlay (LSIO, SBO or floodway), and less than 1% is under the Bushfire Management Overlay (Vicmap Planning). These are suburb-wide shares: whether an overlay applies to one property depends on the address, so check it on VicPlan and in the Section 32.
What should I check in a Section 32 for Chelsea Heights?
For Chelsea Heights, pay particular attention to any heritage overlay (none mapped at suburb level — check the specific parcel), any flood-related overlay (about 26% of the land), easements and restrictive covenants on the title, and — for apartments — the owners-corporation certificate with its fees and any special levies.
Show all 3 more questions
Does Chelsea Heights have heritage overlays?
No heritage overlay coverage was mapped for Chelsea Heights at the suburb level. That doesn't rule out an individually heritage-listed property or a Heritage Overlay on a specific parcel — check the planning section of the Section 32 for this address.
How is Chelsea Heights zoned?
Most of Chelsea Heights (44% of the land) is in the Neighbourhood Residential (NRZ7), then PUZ1 (22%) and C2Z (13%) (Vicmap Planning). The zone and its schedule set what can be built; check the exact zone for an address on VicPlan.
Which school zones cover Chelsea Heights?
Parts of Chelsea Heights are in the government school zones for primary: Aspendale Gardens Primary School, Chelsea Heights Primary School, Chelsea Primary School, Edithvale Primary School; secondary: Mordialloc College, Patterson River Secondary College (Victorian Department of Education school zones). A suburb can span several zones: the exact address decides which applies, so confirm it at findmyschool.vic.gov.au.
Guides for buying in Chelsea Heights
The heritage, flood and bushfire figures in Planning and risk are suburb-wide — they tell you how common an overlay is here, not whether it applies to one specific address. Confirm via VicPlan and an in-person inspection before you rely on them.
Thinking of buying in Chelsea Heights?
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