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SUMMARY
A Melbourne apartment currently costs about A$587,000 at the metropolitan median, but a practical buying budget is closer to A$350,000–A$450,000 for one bedroom, A$550,000–A$650,000 for two bedrooms, and roughly A$800,000 to well above A$1 million for three bedrooms.
The citywide median hides a useful split. Melbourne CBD can still be cheaper than several inner suburbs, so paying more does not necessarily mean moving closer to the centre.
A$600,000 is probably the most useful real-world benchmark for a mainstream two-bedroom apartment. It buys more choice than A$500,000 without yet pushing buyers deep into the premium end of the market.
One-bedroom apartments remain unusually accessible for a major Australian city. Several established inner and middle-ring apartment markets still sit below A$450,000, and some CBD stock is closer to A$340,000.
Three-bedroom apartments behave like a different market. Scarcity, larger floor plans, parking and owner-occupier demand can push prices sharply above the two-bedroom level, especially in South Yarra and Docklands.
The purchase price is only part of the upfront bill. A standard A$600,000 purchase can attract roughly A$31,000 in Victorian duty before other buying costs, while an eligible first-home buyer at A$600,000 or less can avoid that duty entirely.
That A$600,000 first-home threshold sits right inside Melbourne's mainstream apartment market. It can make the difference between a property being merely affordable on paper and actually workable in cash terms.
Off-the-plan apartments can produce large duty savings under Victoria's temporary concession, now available for qualifying contracts entered into before 21 April 2027. The saving is real, but it should not distract buyers from comparing the contract price with completed resale apartments nearby.
Financing is now a bigger ongoing cost than the headline apartment price suggests. Using a 20% deposit and a 30-year loan at 6.17%, the mortgage on the metropolitan median works out at roughly A$2,870 a month.
Building costs can separate two apparently similar bargains. A cheaper high-rise apartment with heavy owners-corporation fees, defects or a special levy can cost more over time than a slightly more expensive unit in a simpler building.
Melbourne's relative affordability is partly a supply story. Large quantities of established apartments keep resale prices competitive, while high construction and financing costs make new replacement stock much more expensive to deliver.
The practical takeaway is simple: A$400,000 still opens a broad one-bedroom market, while around A$600,000 buys a credible two-bedroom apartment in several major areas. Buyers should judge the deal on total ownership cost, not the listing price alone.
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How much does a Melbourne apartment cost now?
A Melbourne apartment currently costs about A$587,000 at the citywide median, although most buyers should think in much wider ranges depending on size and location.
Domain’s latest Melbourne House Price Report puts the metropolitan unit median at A$587,137. Prices were almost unchanged over the latest quarter, down just 0.05%, while remaining 1.7% higher over the year.
That figure is useful as a citywide anchor, but it covers everything from small CBD studios to large three-bedroom apartments in South Yarra. Current suburb data show one-bedroom apartments commonly selling around A$330,000–A$415,000, mainstream two-bedroom apartments around A$525,000–A$650,000, and three-bedroom apartments frequently pushing past A$900,000.
Melbourne apartments also remain dramatically cheaper than houses. Domain currently puts the metropolitan house median at A$1.041 million. The difference is about A$454,000, leaving the median apartment roughly 44% cheaper.
| Melbourne property | Current median | Latest quarterly change | Annual change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment/unit | A$587,137 | -0.05% | +1.7% |
| House | A$1,041,205 | -3.1% | -0.4% |
| Price difference | A$454,068 | — | — |
| Apartment discount vs house | ~44% | — | — |
Can you still buy a Melbourne apartment for A$500,000?
Yes, A$500,000 can still buy a Melbourne apartment today, including surprisingly close to the CBD, although two bedrooms become much harder to find at that budget.
Domain’s latest 12-month suburb data put the one-bedroom median at A$340,000 in Melbourne CBD, A$386,250 in Southbank, A$405,000 in Docklands, A$378,000 in South Yarra and A$413,500 in Richmond.
A$500,000 therefore leaves plenty of room in the one-bedroom market.
Two bedrooms are where the budget starts getting tight. Melbourne CBD currently sits around A$525,250, Carlton around A$540,000 and Box Hill around A$560,000. Southbank rises to roughly A$602,000, while South Yarra and Brunswick are around A$635,000 and Richmond around A$650,751.
An extra A$50,000–A$100,000 changes the search quite a lot. Around A$500,000, buyers are mostly looking at one-bedroom apartments or cheaper two-bedroom stock. Around A$600,000, a much larger part of Melbourne's two-bedroom market becomes realistic.
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What does a one-bedroom apartment cost in Melbourne?
A normal one-bedroom apartment in Melbourne currently costs roughly A$330,000–A$415,000 across many of the city's major apartment areas.
Melbourne CBD sits at about A$340,000 according to Domain's latest 12-month sales data. Box Hill is around A$330,000, South Yarra A$378,000, Brunswick A$385,000, Southbank A$386,250, Docklands A$405,000 and Richmond A$413,500.
Carlton appears much cheaper at about A$210,000, although we would be careful with that number. Carlton contains a large stock of very small student apartments, so its one-bedroom median describes a different product mix from a standard one-bedroom apartment in Richmond or South Yarra.
The more useful observation is how many established inner-Melbourne markets still sit below A$450,000. A buyer does not necessarily need to move far into the outer suburbs to reach that price point.
| Area | 1-bedroom median | 2-bedroom median | 3-bedroom median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne CBD | A$340,000 | A$525,250 | A$1.005m |
| Southbank | A$386,250 | A$602,000 | A$982,500 |
| Docklands | A$405,000 | A$631,500 | A$1.295m |
| Carlton | A$210,000 | A$540,000 | A$951,000 |
| Richmond | A$413,500 | A$650,751 | A$955,000 |
| South Yarra | A$378,000 | A$635,000 | A$1.65m |
| Brunswick | A$385,000 | A$635,000 | A$1.20m |
| Box Hill | A$330,000 | A$560,000 | A$800,000 |
What does a two-bedroom apartment cost in Melbourne?
A two-bedroom Melbourne apartment now costs roughly A$550,000–A$650,000 in many popular areas, making A$600,000 a useful real-world budget.
The CBD is still relatively cheap at around A$525,250. Carlton sits around A$540,000 and Box Hill around A$560,000.
From there, prices bunch up surprisingly closely. Southbank is roughly A$602,000, Docklands A$631,500, South Yarra A$635,000, Brunswick A$635,000 and Richmond A$650,751.
Moving from a central high-rise location into a popular inner suburb can cost more, but the gap is often closer to A$100,000 than several hundred thousand dollars.
Richmond, for example, is only about A$126,000 above the CBD two-bedroom median. Buyers are paying that premium partly for lower-density streets, a different apartment mix and stronger owner-occupier appeal.
If we had to choose one number for someone asking what a usable Melbourne apartment costs these days, roughly A$600,000 for two bedrooms is more informative than the overall A$587,137 unit median.
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Why do three-bedroom Melbourne apartments cost so much more?
Three-bedroom apartments in Melbourne can jump from around A$800,000 to well above A$1 million because larger apartments are much scarcer than one- and two-bedroom stock.
Box Hill currently has a three-bedroom median around A$800,000. Carlton is about A$951,000, Richmond A$955,000 and Southbank A$982,500. Melbourne CBD has crossed A$1 million, Brunswick is around A$1.2 million and Docklands roughly A$1.295 million.
South Yarra is the extreme case. Its two-bedroom median is approximately A$635,000, while three bedrooms reach about A$1.65 million. The gap exceeds A$1 million.
Adding a third bedroom often changes the type of apartment being purchased. Larger units are more likely to have bigger living areas, multiple bathrooms, better views, extra parking or premium positioning. Many also target downsizers and wealthy owner-occupiers rather than investors.
The jump is much gentler in Richmond, where prices move from about A$650,751 for two bedrooms to A$955,000 for three. That variation is why applying one citywide “extra bedroom” premium does not work very well in Melbourne.
Is Melbourne CBD actually cheap for apartment buyers?
Yes, Melbourne CBD is currently one of the cheaper places to buy a conventional apartment near the centre of the city.
The latest Domain data put a one-bedroom CBD apartment at about A$340,000 and two bedrooms at A$525,250. Southbank is around A$386,250 and A$602,000 respectively, while Docklands reaches roughly A$405,000 and A$631,500.
Even Richmond is more expensive, at around A$413,500 for one bedroom and A$650,751 for two.
Supply explains much of the difference. Domain recorded 886 one-bedroom and 982 two-bedroom CBD apartment sales in its latest 12-month dataset. Buyers are choosing among a huge pool of relatively similar properties, particularly in high-rise buildings.
Centrality therefore carries less scarcity value than someone unfamiliar with Melbourne might expect. In several inner suburbs, buyers willingly pay more to leave the CBD because they want larger floor plans, quieter streets, smaller buildings or neighbourhoods with more owner-occupier demand.
| Area | 1-bedroom median | 2-bedroom median | Difference from CBD 2-bed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne CBD | A$340,000 | A$525,250 | — |
| Carlton | A$210,000 | A$540,000 | +A$14,750 |
| Box Hill | A$330,000 | A$560,000 | +A$34,750 |
| Southbank | A$386,250 | A$602,000 | +A$76,750 |
| Docklands | A$405,000 | A$631,500 | +A$106,250 |
| South Yarra | A$378,000 | A$635,000 | +A$109,750 |
| Brunswick | A$385,000 | A$635,000 | +A$109,750 |
| Richmond | A$413,500 | A$650,751 | +A$125,501 |
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How much stamp duty do you pay on a Melbourne apartment?
A buyer paying A$600,000 for a Melbourne apartment can currently face roughly A$31,000 in Victorian stamp duty before any exemption or concession.
Victoria's general duty schedule charges A$2,870 plus 6% of the value above A$130,000 for properties in the relevant price range.
That puts general duty on a A$600,000 apartment at about A$31,070. At Melbourne's A$587,137 unit median, the calculation comes to roughly A$30,300. A A$635,000 purchase produces approximately A$33,170, while an A$800,000 purchase comes to about A$43,070.
Those amounts change the meaning of a buyer's budget pretty quickly. Someone with A$600,000 available for the property still needs another A$30,000-plus for duty unless a concession applies, before allowing for conveyancing, registration and other transaction expenses.
| Purchase price | Approx. general duty | Purchase price + duty |
|---|---|---|
| A$400,000 | A$19,070 | A$419,070 |
| A$500,000 | A$25,070 | A$525,070 |
| A$587,137 | A$30,298 | A$617,435 |
| A$600,000 | A$31,070 | A$631,070 |
| A$635,000 | A$33,170 | A$668,170 |
| A$800,000 | A$43,070 | A$843,070 |
Do first-home buyers pay stamp duty on Melbourne apartments?
Many first-home buyers in Melbourne currently pay no stamp duty at all because Victoria completely exempts eligible purchases worth A$600,000 or less.
The Victorian State Revenue Office confirms that eligible first-home buyers pay no land-transfer duty up to A$600,000. From A$600,001 to A$750,000, a sliding concession applies.
That threshold happens to sit right inside Melbourne's mainstream apartment market.
The metropolitan apartment median is A$587,137, while current two-bedroom medians in Melbourne CBD, Carlton and Box Hill all remain below A$600,000. An eligible first-home buyer purchasing at the metropolitan median could therefore avoid roughly A$30,300 of general duty.
Even a small movement above A$600,000 changes the calculation. Southbank's two-bedroom median is around A$602,000, while Docklands, South Yarra, Brunswick and Richmond sit farther into the concession range.
For first-home buyers, the A$600,000 line deserves almost as much attention as the suburb itself.
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Is buying a Melbourne apartment off the plan cheaper?
Buying off the plan can currently cut Victorian stamp duty sharply, although the tax saving alone does not tell us whether the apartment is well priced.
Victoria's temporary off-the-plan concession lets eligible buyers deduct construction costs incurred after the contract is signed when calculating the property's dutiable value. The current State Revenue Office rules apply to qualifying contracts entered into before 21 April 2027.
The SRO gives a good example. A buyer signs for a A$620,000 apartment before construction begins, with A$465,000 of the price still attributable to future construction. The dutiable value falls to A$155,000.
That can reduce duty by tens of thousands of dollars.
The catch is straightforward. New apartments can carry substantial developer margins, the finished property may value below the contract price at settlement, and buyers are committing before they can inspect the completed apartment. Interest rates and lending conditions can also change before settlement.
So the concession is genuinely valuable today, but we would compare the off-the-plan price with completed apartments nearby before treating the duty saving as a bargain.
How much cash do you need to buy a A$600,000 Melbourne apartment?
A buyer using a 20% deposit on a A$600,000 Melbourne apartment should normally have around A$155,000 available if no stamp-duty concession applies.
The deposit itself is A$120,000. General Victorian duty adds roughly A$31,070. Conveyancing, searches, registration, inspections and lender-related charges can then add several thousand dollars depending on the transaction.
Around A$154,000–A$158,000 is therefore a more realistic starting cash requirement for a standard purchase than simply saying “20% of A$600,000”.
Eligible first-home buyers can come in materially lower because the stamp-duty bill disappears at A$600,000 or below.
A smaller deposit can also reduce the amount of cash needed upfront, although borrowers may then face lenders mortgage insurance or stricter lending conditions. The exact financing structure therefore changes the answer substantially.
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What does the mortgage on a Melbourne apartment cost each month?
Financing a typical Melbourne apartment currently costs roughly A$2,900 a month with a 20% deposit and a 30-year loan at the latest average new owner-occupier rate.
The Reserve Bank's latest published lending table puts new owner-occupier principal-and-interest housing loans at an average 6.17%.
At Melbourne's A$587,137 apartment median, a 20% deposit leaves a mortgage of about A$469,700. Over 30 years at 6.17%, repayments come to roughly A$2,870 a month.
A A$525,250 two-bedroom CBD apartment gives a mortgage of about A$420,200 and monthly repayments close to A$2,565. At A$635,000, which is around the current two-bedroom median in South Yarra and Brunswick, repayments rise to approximately A$3,100.
These are illustrations rather than bank quotes, but they capture the order of magnitude buyers are facing now. Apartment prices may look relatively low next to Melbourne houses, while the monthly financing bill remains substantial.
| Apartment price | 20% deposit | Mortgage | Approx. monthly repayment at 6.17% |
|---|---|---|---|
| A$340,000 | A$68,000 | A$272,000 | A$1,660 |
| A$525,250 | A$105,050 | A$420,200 | A$2,565 |
| A$587,137 | A$117,427 | A$469,710 | A$2,870 |
| A$635,000 | A$127,000 | A$508,000 | A$3,100 |
| A$800,000 | A$160,000 | A$640,000 | A$3,905 |
| A$1,000,000 | A$200,000 | A$800,000 | A$4,885 |
How much are owners-corporation fees on a Melbourne apartment?
Owners-corporation fees can easily add several thousand dollars a year to the cost of a Melbourne apartment, with high-rise buildings generally costing far more than simple low-rise blocks.
There is no useful Melbourne-wide median because the bill depends heavily on the building. A small apartment block without lifts, a pool or on-site staff can have relatively modest fees. Large CBD, Southbank and Docklands towers need to fund lifts, insurance, security, cleaning, building management and sometimes pools, gyms and other shared facilities.
Current Melbourne strata-industry estimates commonly place simple low-rise buildings around A$2,000–A$4,000 a year, mid-rise developments around A$4,000–A$7,000 and large high-rise towers around A$6,000–A$10,000 or more.
Those differences add up quickly. A buyer comparing two apartments with a A$40,000 price difference might discover that the cheaper tower charges A$5,000 more each year in owners-corporation fees. Ten years at that gap adds A$50,000 before any fee increases or special levies.
We would therefore check the owners-corporation certificate and recent meeting records before calling any Melbourne apartment cheap.
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Why are Melbourne apartments still relatively cheap?
Melbourne apartments remain comparatively cheap because the city has a huge supply of established units, especially around the CBD, while recent price growth has been weak.
Domain's latest report puts Melbourne's unit median at A$587,137, making the city cheaper for units than Sydney at roughly A$849,000, Brisbane at A$790,000, Perth at A$702,000 and Adelaide at A$629,000.
The latest Melbourne movement has also been subdued. Unit prices slipped 0.05% over the quarter after another decline in the previous quarter, although they remain 1.7% higher over the year. By comparison, Melbourne's unit median had reached A$601,184 late last year.
Supply gives buyers more room to negotiate. Domain says Melbourne now has the highest overall buyer choice since 2014, while auction clearance rates have fallen to their lowest level since 2020 and sellers are discounting more heavily. CBD apartments are particularly abundant: as seen above, nearly 1,900 one- and two-bedroom units changed hands there over Domain's latest 12-month window.
At the same time, building new apartments has become much harder and more expensive. Higher construction, labour and financing costs mean developers increasingly need higher presale prices to make projects work.
That leaves Melbourne with a slightly odd split. Large quantities of older apartments keep resale prices competitive, while replacement apartments can cost substantially more to deliver. Buyers looking only at new-build prices can get a very different impression of Melbourne affordability from buyers shopping established stock.
Are very cheap Melbourne apartments actually good deals?
Some cheap Melbourne apartments are genuine bargains, while others are cheap because future buyers will face exactly the same problems the current buyer is seeing.
Carlton's A$210,000 one-bedroom median shows how misleading a low headline number can become. The suburb contains many compact student apartments, and those properties do not trade like normal owner-occupier one-bedroom homes.
Internal floor area is particularly important. Some banks become more cautious with very small apartments, reducing the pool of potential borrowers. High owners-corporation fees, poor natural light, no parking and dozens of similar apartments for sale in the same tower can also keep resale values low.
Building records deserve just as much attention as the apartment itself. Defects, insurance disputes, cladding work or a large special levy can wipe out an apparent purchase-price saving very quickly.
A A$330,000 apartment with weak resale demand and a looming A$20,000 levy may be worse value than a A$380,000 apartment in a simpler, well-run building.
Melbourne has plenty of apartments below A$400,000 these days. The more useful question is why each particular apartment is below A$400,000.
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So what does it really cost to buy an apartment in Melbourne?
A realistic Melbourne apartment budget today is roughly A$350,000–A$450,000 for one bedroom, A$550,000–A$650,000 for two bedrooms, and around A$800,000 to well above A$1 million for three bedrooms.
The latest citywide median is A$587,137, but roughly A$600,000 is the number we would use for someone wanting a normal two-bedroom apartment with a reasonable choice of locations.
An ordinary buyer purchasing at A$600,000 can add about A$31,000 in Victorian stamp duty and several thousand dollars in other transaction costs. With a 20% deposit, roughly A$155,000 of available cash is a sensible working figure.
Eligible first-home buyers have a much easier upfront calculation because a purchase of A$600,000 or less currently attracts no Victorian stamp duty. That can save around A$30,000 on an apartment near Melbourne's overall median.
After settlement, financing becomes the bigger number. Using the Reserve Bank's latest average new owner-occupier principal-and-interest rate of 6.17%, an 80% mortgage on the median Melbourne apartment costs about A$2,870 a month over 30 years. Owners-corporation fees then add anything from a few thousand dollars a year in a simple building to A$10,000 or more in some full-service towers.
Our answer is fairly clear: A$600,000 currently buys a credible two-bedroom Melbourne apartment, while A$400,000 still opens a surprisingly broad one-bedroom market. Melbourne remains unusually accessible by major-Australian-city standards, especially for established apartments. Buyers should just resist judging affordability from the listing price alone, because stamp duty, financing and building costs can move the real ownership bill by tens of thousands of dollars.
OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis estimates what it costs to buy an apartment in Melbourne by combining the current metropolitan unit median with bedroom-level suburb pricing, Victorian transaction costs, financing and owners-corporation expenses. The goal is to show what buyers realistically need to spend rather than reduce the market to one headline median.
Domain’s June 2026 House Price Report is used as the citywide anchor for Melbourne unit and house medians, quarterly and annual price movements, interstate comparisons and current buyer-choice conditions. We then cross-check that citywide picture against recent Domain suburb data for Melbourne CBD, Southbank, Docklands, Carlton, Richmond, South Yarra, Brunswick and Box Hill.
Bedroom-level medians are treated carefully because the apartment mix can distort the result. Carlton’s low one-bedroom median, for example, includes a large stock of very small student apartments, so we do not treat it as representative of a conventional one-bedroom apartment across Melbourne.
Victorian purchase costs are based on State Revenue Office rules. We use the general land-transfer duty schedule for the standard examples, the first-home-buyer exemption and concession for eligible purchases up to A$750,000, and the temporary off-the-plan concession for qualifying contracts entered into before 21 April 2027.
Mortgage examples use the Reserve Bank of Australia’s published average rate for new owner-occupier principal-and-interest housing loans. We apply the same 20% deposit, 30-year loan term and 6.17% interest rate across the examples so the repayment differences come from the property price rather than changing assumptions.
Owners-corporation costs are treated as building-specific rather than reduced to a Melbourne-wide median. Consumer Affairs Victoria guidance is used for what fees, special levies, records, insurance and maintenance obligations buyers should check, while the article uses current Melbourne strata-industry ranges to show the order of magnitude across low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise buildings.
We also separate established apartments from new stock because Melbourne currently has a large pool of resale units while replacement construction is expensive. That distinction helps explain why established apartments can look relatively cheap even when new projects are costly to deliver.
Key sources include Domain’s June 2026 House Price Report, the Domain suburb profiles for Melbourne CBD, Southbank, Docklands, Carlton, Richmond, South Yarra, Brunswick and Box Hill; the Victorian State Revenue Office pages for general land-transfer duty, first-home-buyer duty relief, and the off-the-plan duty concession; the Reserve Bank of Australia’s lenders’ interest-rate data; and Consumer Affairs Victoria guidance on owners-corporation fees, owners-corporation records, and buying an apartment or unit.
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