Houses on our Ballarat shortlist start at $513,500, a little over half Melbourne’s $920,432 median house value on Cotality’s August index. To pick the best suburbs to invest in Ballarat in 2026, we tested the 23 that sold at least 50 houses in the past year. Eight cleared our price, yield and vacancy tests: Sebastopol, Redan, Wendouree, Golden Point, Ballarat East, Mount Pleasant, Black Hill and Ballarat North.
Yields across the eight run from 3.94% to 4.25%, on medians up to $607,500. Sebastopol and Wendouree, the two busiest, rose 16.7% and 18.9% in the past year. Both have more than doubled in ten years.
Ballarat’s affordable end has risen most
The 12 suburbs that cost $515,000 or less in June 2021 have risen a median 28.5% since, and the 11 dearer ones 18.4%.
Sebastopol’s median went from $241,500 in the year to June 2016 to $513,500 in the year to June 2026. Wendouree’s went from $247,250 to $535,000.
How we picked from 23 Ballarat suburbs
Our starting list was all 62 suburbs and localities in the City of Ballarat and its fringe. Your Investment Property publishes the house data, which comes from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic). Medians cover the 12 months to 30 June 2026, and rents run to 31 August 2026. Twenty-three suburbs sold 50 or more houses, which we treat as the minimum for a median worth reading. From there, a suburb needed three things.
- A house median no higher than $607,500, the median of the 23.
- A gross yield of at least 3.923%, the median yield of the 23.
- Postcode vacancy at or below 1.08%, the Ballarat-wide rate built from SQM Research’s August 2026 postcode figures. That is 167 vacant rentals out of 15,424 across six main postcodes.
Winter Valley’s postcode, 3358, lifts that city-wide rate, with 35 of 298 rentals empty in August, or 11.74%. Without it, the rate would be 0.87%, and the six suburbs in postcode 3350, at 0.92%, would miss the line. We kept 3358 in because it is part of the city’s rental market, and 0.92% is still a tight one. All eight are in postcodes under 1%.
We also looked at new building before 2021. Suburbs with more than 10 new houses per 100 grew about as much as the rest over the next five years, 22.9% against 23.6%, so new building didn’t hold prices back here. Only six suburbs had that much, all in the Delacombe and Alfredton areas.
Eight Ballarat suburbs that passed
Sebastopol is the most affordable of the eight and Ballarat North the dearest. August 2025 vacancy is in brackets beside each postcode’s August 2026 rate. New houses per 100 is the five-year count of new house approvals to June 2026, per 100 houses at the 2021 Census. It uses the ABS statistical area around the suburb, which can include its neighbours. A higher figure means more new homes chasing the same tenants.
| Suburb | House median | Gross yield | Vacancy | House sales | 1-yr price change | 5-yr price change | New houses per 100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastopol | $513,500 | 4.25% | 0.54% (1.07%) | 290 | +16.7% | +38.8% | 3.5 |
| Redan | $517,500 | 4.12% | 0.92% (0.79%) | 102 | +13.7% | +22.5% | 3.5 |
| Wendouree | $535,000 | 3.99% | 0.58% (0.82%) | 300 | +18.9% | +33.8% | 2.3 |
| Golden Point | $537,500 | 4.04% | 0.92% (0.79%) | 90 | +12.2% | +23.6% | 4.0 |
| Ballarat East | $545,000 | 4.01% | 0.92% (0.79%) | 167 | +12.4% | +23.6% | 9.1 |
| Mount Pleasant | $549,000 | 4.07% | 0.92% (0.79%) | 62 | +9.8% | +25.3% | 4.0 |
| Black Hill | $581,000 | 3.94% | 0.92% (0.79%) | 57 | +6.6% | +9.6% | 5.2 |
| Ballarat North | $607,500 | 3.94% | 0.92% (0.79%) | 92 | +14.6% | +14.6% | 5.2 |
Sebastopol, Redan and Wendouree
Sebastopol and Wendouree are the busiest on the list, with about 300 house sales each. Only Alfredton and Winter Valley sold more.
Sebastopol, south of the centre, has the lowest median at $513,500 and the highest yield at 4.25%. Its postcode vacancy halved in a year, from 1.07% to 0.54%. Redan, its neighbour, costs $517,500 and yields 4.12%.
Wendouree, on the north-west side near the lake, rose 18.9% to $535,000, the biggest one-year gain of the eight. Only 120 new houses have been approved in its ABS area since 2021, on top of 5,267 already there.
Ballarat East
Ballarat East had 167 house sales in the year. The $545,000 median yields 4.01%. The ABS area around it is building the fastest of the eight, at 9.1 new houses per 100 in five years. That is still under the regional Victorian rate of 9.7.
Golden Point and Mount Pleasant
Golden Point and Mount Pleasant sit just south of the CBD, with medians of $537,500 and $549,000. Both yield just over 4%, and they share an ABS area with only 4.0 new houses per 100. Golden Point’s rents rose 7.1%, second only to Ballarat North.
Ballarat North and Black Hill
Ballarat North sits right on the price line, at $607,500. Its median has swung around. It went from $530,000 in the year to June 2021 up to $662,500 in 2023 and back to $530,000 in 2025. Then it rose 14.6% in the past year, which is why its one-year and five-year changes match. Rents rose 9.5%, the most of the eight.
Black Hill gives buyers the most bargaining room. Houses there took 46 days to sell on average, against 15 to 30 for the rest of the eight. Its growth has been the slowest, up 6.6% in a year and 9.6% over five. Check recent sales closely before you offer.
Five Ballarat suburbs one test short
Delacombe came closest of the single-test misses. Less than a dollar a week more rent would lift its 3.918% yield over the 3.923% line. Mount Clear is next at 3.91% and needs a dollar or two more. Canadian, at 3.81%, needs about $13 a week.
Lucas failed on price, at $649,500. Its median rose just 2.3% in a year and houses took 40 days to sell. Winter Valley failed on vacancy.
Delacombe, Lucas and Winter Valley are all on Ballarat’s western side, where most of the city’s new houses are going up. The ABS areas around Delacombe and Alfredton approved 4,282 new houses in the five years to June 2026, or 78% of the city’s total. The City of Ballarat’s Ballarat West plan provides for about 15,839 homes and around 39,150 people.
In Ballarat West we’d buy an established house over a new-estate package, for the reasons in our growth corridor post.
Jobs and population growth in Ballarat
The Victorian Government is spending $655 million on Ballarat Base Hospital, adding 100 inpatient and short-stay beds. The Victorian Health Building Authority says it is on track for completion in 2027. The council’s economy.id profile counts 14,819 health care jobs in Ballarat, more than in any other industry.
The City of Ballarat grew 1.7% in the year to June 2025, to 122,661 residents. That is close to Victoria’s 1.8%.
Checks before buying in Ballarat
- Land tax. For an individual, Victorian land tax starts once your taxable land in the state is worth $50,000, so a Ballarat house will likely draw a bill from year one. It is charged on land value, not the price you pay. The COVID debt levy adds a flat $500 for land worth $50,000 to under $100,000, and $975 from $100,000. From $300,000 ($250,000 for trusts), the rate also rises by 0.1 percentage points. It runs until 30 June 2033, according to the State Revenue Office. If you already own investment property in Victoria, a Ballarat house adds to that total. Our land tax by state guide has the full scales.
- Estate rentals. If you buy in Ballarat West, check how many new rentals are coming onto the market nearby. Vacancy in postcode 3352, which takes in Bonshaw and Miners Rest, rose from 0.95% to 2.30% in a year.
- Market direction. Values have eased lately, though fewer homes are listed. Regional Victorian house values rose 4.6% in the year to August on Cotality’s index, but fell 1.5% over the last three months. Melbourne house values dropped 5.7% over the year. SQM counted 2,295 homes listed across the six Ballarat postcodes in August, 5.2% fewer than a year earlier. Our price changes run to June, so they miss most of that recent easing. Houses on the list took 15 to 46 days to sell. Where sales are slower, as in Black Hill, buyers have more room.
- Older homes. Most of the suburbs on this list have seen little new building, so expect houses that are decades old. Get a building and pest inspection and allow for maintenance in the numbers.
- Cash flow. Sebastopol rents for $420 a week. The interest on an 80% loan at 6.3% against its $513,500 median is about $498. All eight yield under the 5.04% it takes to cover that. Our weekly cost guide shows how to work out the full top-up.
Adding Ballarat to your portfolio
Regional Victoria hasn’t had the run other regional markets had. Over the five years to August 2026, Cotality has regional Victorian dwelling values up 13.2%. Regional Queensland rose 58.1%, regional South Australia 76.0% and regional Western Australia 85.4%.
The typical five-year gain was 23.6% across the 23 Ballarat suburbs, against 125.9% across the 29 Ipswich suburbs we could trace back to 2021. That gap is one reason we see Victoria as earlier in its cycle than Queensland. If you already own in Queensland, a Ballarat house spreads you across two markets at different points in their run.
Land tax thresholds apply state by state. An investor who already owns in another state starts again from Victoria’s threshold, which our land tax reduction guide covers.
Our Ipswich guide shows what five years of a Queensland run looks like, while the Cairns guide has yields up to 5.67%. The regional Victoria guide covers Shepparton, Mildura, Warrnambool and Wodonga. Our Ballarat buyers agent page explains how we buy in regional Victoria.
The Ballarat shortlist for 2026
Sebastopol, Redan and Wendouree are the three most affordable of the eight, with Sebastopol yielding the most and Wendouree up the most in the past year. Golden Point, Mount Pleasant and Ballarat East cost a little more and all yield just over 4%. Ballarat North has the fastest-rising rents, up 9.5%, and Black Hill gives the most room to negotiate.
Data sources. House medians, weekly rents, sales and days on market are Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) figures through Your Investment Property. Medians and sales run to 30 June 2026, and rents to 31 August 2026. Yields are ours, weekly rent times 52 divided by the median. Rent changes compare Cotality’s monthly median rent for August 2026 and August 2025. One-year, five-year and ten-year changes compare the June 2025, June 2021 and June 2016 annual medians with June 2026. New houses per 100 is ABS Building Approvals by SA2 for new houses from July 2021 to June 2026, divided by occupied separate houses at the 2021 Census. The regional Victorian rate uses every SA2 outside Greater Melbourne. The supply comparison uses approvals from July 2016 to June 2021. Vacancy and listings are SQM Research by postcode for August 2026 and August 2025. The Ballarat rate is our sum of SQM’s figures for postcodes 3350, 3352, 3355, 3356, 3357 and 3358. Regional, Melbourne and five-year values are the Cotality Home Value Index to 31 August 2026. Population is ABS estimated resident population for June 2024 and June 2025. All figures pulled 29 September 2026.
This is general information only and not financial advice. Speak to a qualified professional before making investment decisions.
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