Cowes: $875k median house price, plus bushfire, zoning and school-zone checks
Cowes median house price: $875,000 in the Jan–Mar 2026 quarter, from 12 sales (Valuer-General Victoria), up 12.9% on the Jan–Mar 2025 quarter. Median unit price: $547,500 (calendar year 2025). Median rent: $331 a week (ABS Census 2021, older than the price figures). Postcode 3922.
What stands out: Part of Cowes is under a Public Acquisition Overlay (land reserved for a future public work); part of Cowes is under an Environmental Audit Overlay (potentially contaminated land) (Vicmap Planning).
Page updated · market data to Mar 2026
- Zoning: mostly Farming zone (FZ), 55% of the land
- Planning change: a new overlay since 2017, latest in 2026 (details)
- School zones: parts of Cowes are zoned for Cowes Primary School (primary); Bass Coast College (secondary)
- Getting there: nearest train station about 10.8 km from the suburb centre
- House median
- $875,000
- Mar qtr 2026 · up 12.9% on Mar qtr 2025
- Higher than 91% of the 369 regional Victoria suburbs with a reliable house median · 12 sales in the quarter
- Valuer-General Victoria
- Unit median
- $547,500
- calendar year 2025 · up 5.3% on calendar year 2024
- Higher than 78% of the 139 regional Victoria suburbs with a reliable unit median · 26 sales in the year
- Valuer-General Victoria
- Median rent
- $331/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
- 2.0%
- 2021 rent / Mar qtr 2026 price
- Indicative only.
- Calculated by Delora from the two figures above
- Planning risk
- Flood 1% Very lowBushfire 9% ModerateHeritage 1% Very low
- share of suburb land area
- 3 suburb-specific overlays to check
- Vicmap Planning
- Getting around
- 10.8 km to nearest station
- 1 zoned primary, 1 secondary schools
- PTV timetable data · Victorian Department of Education school zones
Cowes is an established suburb with an older, more settled population — median age 55, less socio-economically advantaged than most areas on the ABS's SEIFA index. Housing here is overwhelmingly standalone houses. The area is good for café and shop density nearby. 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); regional Victoria 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 Cowes in a flood, bushfire or heritage area?
Cowes has relatively light heritage-overlay coverage (about 1%), though it can still apply to individual parcels. A Bushfire Management Overlay affects about 9% of the area.
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. 21 named overlay areas (HO57, HO43, HO59 +18 more) — oldest gazetted 2006.
Share of the suburb. Source: Vicmap Planning · Verify this address
Worth checking in Cowes
Public Acquisition Overlay
Part of Cowes is reserved for a future public work (e.g. a road or rail project) under a Public Acquisition Overlay — land it covers can be compulsorily acquired by the authority. Check whether this specific property is affected before you commit.
Potentially contaminated land (EAO)
An Environmental Audit Overlay applies to part of Cowes — 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.
Bushfire Management Overlay
A Bushfire Management Overlay affects ~9% of Cowes. If it applies, it drives bushfire construction requirements (BAL rating) and cost.
Zoning mix and building controls
Land use across the suburb (planning zones)
- Zoning
- Rural / Green
- mostly Farming Zone (FZ) · 55% of the suburb
Planning overlays that can affect building, renovating or removing vegetation somewhere in Cowes — confirm whether any apply to the specific address.
- Design & Development Overlay — height, setback or design rules on new building
- Vegetation Protection Overlay — a permit is needed to remove or lop protected trees
- Significant Landscape Overlay — controls to protect the area’s landscape character
Planning changes in Cowes: 1 recorded since 2017
Planning controls on land in Cowes have changed since 2017. Each row below is one gazetted amendment — a batch of parcels changed together in the same notice, not a single lot — the kind of thing that moves land value and that portals don’t show.
Source: Vicmap Planning Scheme History (2017–present); parcel-level zone & overlay changes grouped by suburb, zone transition and gazettal batch. A suburb-level record — confirm the specific parcel. See how Melbourne’s zoning changed over the decade →
- Suburb
Layers on this map, as a table
| Layer | Share of suburb | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Suburb boundary | The whole suburb | ABS SAL 2021 |
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 Cowes?
Market pulse: is Cowes 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 | +12.1% · more | 37 houses sold in the four quarters to Mar 2026, against 33 in the four quarters before. |
| Unit prices | Not measured | The Valuer-General flags the median for the Jan–Mar 2026 quarter or the same quarter a year earlier as based on too few sales to compare. |
| New homes approved (council) | +3.1% · about the same | 394 dwellings approved across the council Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, against 382 in the 12 months before. |
What sales volume tells you → Reading rental demand →
Over 5 years the calendar-year median house price went from $589,500 (2020) to $747,500 (2025), +26.8% or about +4.9% a year.
Checking an asking price in Cowes
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) | $875,000 |
|---|---|
| Stamp duty | $47,570 |
| Land Use Victoria transfer and mortgage fees | $2,281.20 |
| Government costs on top of the price | $49,851.20 |
Work out your own figure in the stamp duty calculator →
Price outlook: what the Cowes median could be in 3 and 5 years
Start from the 2025 calendar-year median house price here, $747,500. For suburbs like Cowes, three-year outcomes since 2016 put the 2028 median between $869,701 and $1,291,597 in about 76% of cases (the range was aimed at 80%; that is how often it held on years it had not seen), with $1,060,377 in the middle. The chance the median is lower than today in three years is about 2%. 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) | $869,701 to $1,291,597 | $1,060,377 (+42%) | 2% | 76% of 7 years |
| In 5 years (2030) | $977,171 to $1,404,009 | $1,143,187 (+53%) | 0% | 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 Cowes compares
Where Cowes ranks against other regional Victoria 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
Which school zones cover Cowes?
Parts of Cowes fall within 1 primary and 1 secondary government school catchments. 2 schools are located within the suburb (1 government, 1 Catholic).
Government schools have address-based catchment zones; Catholic and independent schools set their own enrolment processes.
| Zone | Covers | Boundary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary school zones | |||
| Cowes Primary School | 100% | — | |
| Secondary school zones | |||
| Bass Coast College (San Remo Campus) | 100% | — | |
| Bass Coast College (Wonthaggi Campus) | 100% | — | |
How well connected is Cowes?
0 train, 0 tram and 29 bus stop points sit inside the suburb (PTV timetable data).
- Getting around
- 0 train · 0 tram · 29 bus
- nearest train station ~10.8 km · counts are stop points, not stations (a station is often several)
- Train frequency
- every 60 min
- at the nearest station, weekday AM peak
- Tram frequency
- every 6 min
- at the nearest stop, weekday AM peak
- Schools
- 2
- primary & secondary
- Nearest Centrelink
- ~31 km
- outside the suburb
Everyday amenity (OpenStreetMap)
- Cafés & amenity density
- 20 cafés
- Good café & amenity density nearby
- Restaurants
- 26
- places to eat nearby
- Supermarkets
- 4
- grocery stores nearby
- Pharmacies
- 2
- chemists nearby
- Hospitals
- 1
- in the suburb
- Parks
- 15
- green space nearby
- Childcare
- 1
- centres nearby
- GP & medical centres
- 0
- nearby
Who lives in Cowes?
— 6,593 residents · median age 55 · 68% own their home · SEIFA 3/10
- Population
- 6,593
- usual residents (Census 2021)
- Owner-occupied
- 68%
- 68% own, 18% private rent, 2% social, 12% other or not stated
- Median age
- 55 yrs
- of residents
- Personal income
- $586/wk
- median, per week
- Household income
- $1,026/wk
- median, per week
- Avg household size
- 2.1 people
- people per home · 16% live alone
- Monthly mortgage
- $1,550/mo
- median repayment
- Taxpayer income
- $43,432/yr
- median taxable income, per year (ATO)
- Population growth
- no data
- Recorded crime
- 90 per 1,000 residents
- a year, across all of Bass Coast council, not just Cowes · around the state average
In Cowes itself: 610 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 (Bass Coast council's mix, latest year):
- Property and deception offences42%
- Justice procedures offences25%
- Crimes against the person21%
- Public order and security offences7%
- Drug offences5%
- Other offences0%
Recorded offences by year, Cowes (up 36% since 2019):
| Year | Offences |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 449 |
| 2020 | 414 |
| 2021 | 629 |
| 2022 | 572 |
| 2023 | 608 |
| 2024 | 543 |
| 2025 | 569 |
| 2026 | 610 |
- Median household incomeup 22%
- Median personal incomeup 20%
- Median weekly rentup 32%
- Median ageolder by 1 year
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
- 3/10
- Less advantaged than most
- Economic resources
- 3/10
- income, housing costs & wealth
- Education & occupation
- 4/10
- 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): 3%
- Mid-rise (3–8 storeys): 1%
Bedroom mix (share of all occupied dwellings):
- Studio or 1 bedroom: 4%
- 2 bedrooms: 16%
- 3 bedrooms: 43%
- 4 or more bedrooms: 34%
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 Cowes
The 6 closest suburbs with a Delora page, by distance between suburb centres.
Compare with nearby suburbs
What should I check before buying in Cowes?
Overlay and pipeline checks specific to Cowes 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 Cowes 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 Cowes?
Questions about Cowes
What is the median house price in Cowes?
The median house price in Cowes was $875,000 in the Jan–Mar 2026 quarter (Valuer-General Victoria), up 12.9% on a year earlier. The median unit price was $547,500 (calendar year 2025).
What postcode is Cowes?
Cowes is in postcode 3922, in the Bass Coast council area, Victoria.
What is the population of Cowes?
Cowes had 6,593 usual residents at the 2021 Census (ABS), with a median age of 55.
Is Cowes in a flood zone?
About 1% of Cowes's land is under a flood-related planning overlay (LSIO, SBO or floodway), and about 9% 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 Cowes?
For Cowes, pay particular attention to heritage overlays (about 1% of the suburb is affected), any flood-related overlay (about 1% 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 Cowes have heritage overlays?
Heritage overlays cover a small share of Cowes (about 1%) — not common, but still worth a quick check: confirm in the Section 32's planning section whether a Heritage Overlay applies to this specific parcel, since it restricts demolition and external changes.
How is Cowes zoned?
Most of Cowes (55% of the land) is in the Farming (FZ), then GRZ1 (29%) and PPRZ (4%) (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 Cowes?
Parts of Cowes are in the government school zones for primary: Cowes Primary School; secondary: Bass Coast 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 Cowes
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 Cowes?
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