Richmond (3121) is an inner-city suburb of Melbourne sitting approximately 3 kilometres east of the CBD, governed by the City of Yarra. Its SEIFA IRSAD score of 1109 places it in decile 10 of 10 nationally and at the 94th percentile within Victoria, well above the national mean of 1000. That reading reflects a population with high relative socioeconomic advantage across income, education, occupation, and access to resources. For investors, this is the macro frame: a suburb whose resident base consistently ranks among the most advantaged in the country.
ABS 2021 IRSAD release. Score 1109 (national mean = 1000).
A decile 10 SEIFA reading carries real weight in the PropertyRanker model. It feeds directly into three of the twelve scoring criteria: economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk. On economic_strength, a score of 1109 signals a labour market and income base that has historically supported sustained demand for well-located housing. On hazard_risk, highly advantaged suburbs tend to have lower concentrations of socioeconomic vulnerability that can amplify downside cycles. On entry_point_risk, the same score is a double-edged input: strong fundamentals are already priced in, so the model checks whether a specific listing is entering at a point where the margin of safety is thin.
Richmond's inner-city position, multiple train lines, and dense amenity strip across Swan Street, Bridge Road, and Victoria Street reinforce the macro signal. The suburb has undergone sustained gentrification over several decades, and its resident profile skews toward young professionals and higher-income households. That demographic tends to support rental demand for quality stock, which is relevant context for strategy matching.
On strategy fit, Richmond's SEIFA profile and inner-city land values make it a natural candidate for a Capital Growth orientation, where PropertyRanker anchors gross yield expectations around 3.5 percent. Investors seeking a Balanced strategy (around 5 percent gross yield) or High Yield (around 6 percent) should verify current asking rents and vacancy carefully before assuming those thresholds are achievable here, because entry prices in top-decile inner suburbs typically compress gross yields. The SEIFA score alone cannot confirm or deny whether a specific listing clears any yield threshold. That requires scoring the actual listing.
Richmond VIC 3121 house prices have softened over the past 12 months, with yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au reporting a median house price of $1,350,000 and annual capital growth of -4.76% to June 2026, while propertyvalue.com.au records a -1.1% median sale price change and an average vendor discount of -7.2% for houses. Sales activity across all residential types reached 933 properties in 2026 per barryplant.com.au, and the REIV reports days on market of 28 days against a metro Melbourne average of 42 days, suggesting Richmond continues to transact faster than the broader market despite price headwinds. Historical data from azrea.com.au and barryplant.com.au shows the all-residential median has pulled back from a 2021 peak, with the vacancy rate sitting at 1.67% per htag.com.au, indicating a still-tight rental market.
Anchor points pulled per refresh from publicly available suburb profiles. Approximate; not a moving average.
Vacancy is stable at 1.67% (sub-2%), but house days on market have risen (openagent.com.au reports 46 days for houses, up from prior periods) and vendor discounting is elevated at -7.2%, making two of three signals softening and placing the market in the cool band.
Sources: Richmond, VIC 3121: Suburb Profile & Property Report (2026-06-01); Richmond House Prices & Property Trends (2026-01-01); Richmond 3121 Suburb Profile: Investment & Sales Data (2026-01-01); Richmond property prices over 11 years (2026-09-01); Sales & auction results for Richmond - REIV (2026-09-01) · Refreshed 10 Oct 2026
PropertyRanker scores any Australian property against 12 criteria across three pillars: Growth, Cashflow, and Risk. SEIFA is a primary signal for economic strength and a supporting one for entry-price risk. It also informs the crime side of hazard risk, though physical overlays like flood, bushfire and coastal exposure, and recorded crime data where available, take priority there. The decile of 10 shown above gives a listing in Richmond a stronger starting line on economic strength than the national median postcode, and a softer one on entry-price risk, since more advantaged postcodes usually carry higher entry prices.
On top of that, PropertyRanker chooses one of four strategies (Balanced, Growth, Yield, Regional) and applies a per-strategy yield anchor. The anchors are 3.5% for Growth, 5% for Balanced, 6% for Yield, and 7% for Regional. A postcode at this level of relative advantage tends to suit the Growth (3.5% anchor) and Balanced (5% anchor) strategies more readily than Yield (6%) or Regional (7%), because a higher entry price compresses the gross yield a listing can reach without a specific value-add.
Read the scoring guide for the full criteria list and how the verdict thresholds work.
Richmond's postcode-level SEIFA reading is one of the strongest in Victoria, but it cannot see what matters most at the listing level. A high-SEIFA suburb still contains individual properties with structural defects, unfavourable strata arrangements, flood or heritage overlays, and pricing that sits above recent comparable sales. Investors should verify the following before drawing conclusions. First, check current SQM vacancy data for postcode 3121: inner-city vacancy can shift materially with new apartment supply. Second, if the property is in a strata scheme, obtain the owners corporation records and confirm the sinking fund is adequately funded. Third, check the planning certificate for flood overlay, heritage overlay, and any development restrictions that could affect future value or rental use. Fourth, compare the asking price against recent comparable sales in the same street type and dwelling category, not just the broader suburb median. A strong SEIFA frame does not protect a poorly priced or structurally compromised asset. Score the specific listing in PropertyRanker to get a verdict that accounts for all twelve criteria, including the live SQM vacancy reading, overlay status, and pricing against recent comparable sales.
Richmond's SEIFA IRSAD score of 1109 (decile 10 nationally, 94th percentile in Victoria) signals a strong socioeconomic base, which PropertyRanker treats as a positive input into economic_strength and hazard_risk scoring. That does not make every listing in the suburb a sound investment. Entry prices in top-decile inner suburbs tend to be high, which compresses gross yields and tightens the margin of safety on individual deals. The data suggests a suburb with durable demand fundamentals; whether a specific property represents good value depends on the listing-level score.
Richmond's inner-city land values and top-decile SEIFA profile align most naturally with a Capital Growth strategy, where PropertyRanker anchors gross yield expectations around 3.5 percent. Investors targeting a Balanced strategy (around 5 percent) or High Yield (around 6 percent) should verify current asking rents and vacancy for postcode 3121 before assuming those thresholds are achievable, because entry prices in this suburb typically compress yields. Score the specific listing to confirm which strategy band the numbers actually support.
The primary risk flagged by the PropertyRanker model for a top-decile suburb like Richmond is entry_point_risk: strong fundamentals are already reflected in pricing, so overpaying relative to comparable sales erodes the return profile. Postcode 3121 also contains a significant volume of apartment stock, which means strata health, body corporate levies, and localised vacancy from new supply are material risks that a SEIFA reading cannot capture. Heritage and planning overlays apply to parts of Richmond and can restrict renovation or development options, so checking the planning certificate for each listing is essential.
PropertyRanker runs twelve scoring criteria across macro and listing-level signals. Richmond's SEIFA IRSAD score of 1109 feeds directly into three of those criteria: economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk. The remaining nine criteria draw on listing-level inputs including current SQM vacancy for postcode 3121, flood and planning overlay status, body corporate health for strata properties, and pricing against recent comparable sales. The SEIFA reading sets the macro frame; the listing-level inputs determine the final score.
Richmond's raw SEIFA IRSAD score of 1109 places it at the 94th percentile within Victoria, which is a strong reading even within the City of Yarra's generally advantaged inner-ring suburbs. Neighbouring suburbs such as Abbotsford (3067) and South Yarra (3141) sit in a similar high-amenity corridor, and their SEIFA profiles tend to be comparably elevated, though exact scores differ. Investors comparing these suburbs should score individual listings in PropertyRanker rather than relying on suburb-level SEIFA comparisons, because yield, vacancy, and overlay conditions vary at the listing level even within the same postcode band.
Paste a real address. Get a defensible verdict across 12 criteria in around three minutes.
Score a property free