West Footscray (postcode 3012) sits approximately 7.5 kilometres west of Melbourne's CBD inside the City of Maribyrnong, placing it firmly in the inner-west corridor that has drawn sustained investor attention over the past decade. Its SEIFA IRSAD score of 1039 sits 39 points above the national mean of 1000, landing in decile 8 of 10 nationally and at the 73rd percentile within Victoria. That reading classifies the suburb as advantaged, reflecting a population that skews toward higher incomes, tertiary education, and professional employment. The score is a macro-level signal; it tells you about the postcode frame, not about any individual street, dwelling, or strata scheme within it.
ABS 2021 IRSAD release. Score 1039 (national mean = 1000).
The SEIFA reading for West Footscray is consistent with the demographic shift the suburb has undergone over the past two decades. Census data shows that close to 41 percent of residents hold a university degree, well above the Victorian average of around 29 percent, and the suburb's median household income sits above the Victorian median. The suburb is divided by the railway line and Sunshine Road into a predominantly residential northern half and a mixed residential, commercial, and industrial southern half. That internal geography matters for investors: a property on the northern side of the tracks carries a different amenity and zoning context than one on the southern side, and SEIFA cannot distinguish between them.
For PropertyRanker's scoring model, the decile 8 SEIFA reading feeds positively into three of the twelve criteria: economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk. A higher SEIFA score tends to correlate with lower unemployment, more stable tenant pools, and reduced exposure to economic-cycle volatility. It does not, however, indicate that every listing in the postcode is priced fairly, that vacancy is low, or that a specific building is well managed.
On strategy alignment, West Footscray's inner-city location and advantaged demographic profile suggest the suburb sits most naturally in the Capital Growth band, where PropertyRanker anchors gross yield expectations around 3.5 percent. Investors targeting the Balanced strategy (around 5 percent gross yield) would need to identify specific property types, such as townhouses or multi-dwelling configurations, that can support a higher income return within this postcode frame. High Yield and Regional strategy thresholds of 6 to 7 percent gross yield are unlikely to be met by standard residential stock here without a structural reason, and any listing claiming those returns warrants close scrutiny of the comparable rental evidence.
West Footscray's house market recorded a median sale price of $1,045,000 for the 12 months to June 2026, representing annual capital growth of 13.90% according to CoreLogic data published by Your Investment Property Magazine. propertyvalue.com.au (Cotality data) reported 115 house sales over the same period with a median of $976,000, up 4.2% annually, and an average vendor discount of -5.7%. Days on market for houses have edged higher year-on-year per Woodards/PropTrack, and the rental vacancy rate sits at approximately 1.53% per HtAG Analytics, pointing to a tight but softening sales environment.
Vacancy is tight and stable at ~1.53%, but days on market for houses rose 4.1% year-on-year and vendor discounting of -5.7% signals buyers holding negotiating power, producing two softening signals and a cool band.
Sources: West Footscray VIC 3012: Suburb Profile & Property Report (2026-09-09); West Footscray House Prices & Property Trends (2026-01-01); West Footscray VIC 3012 Property Market and House Prices 2026 (2026-09-03); West Footscray VIC 3012 Suburb Profile (2026-01-01); West Footscray VIC 3012 | Established Suburb in Maribyrnong (2026-01-01) · Refreshed 24 Sep 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 8 shown above gives a listing in West Footscray 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.
SEIFA is a postcode-level read. The fastest sanity check on any single decile reading is to compare it against the suburbs that surround it.
A decile 8 SEIFA reading narrows the macro risk profile for West Footscray but leaves several property-level questions unanswered. First, confirm which side of the railway line and Sunshine Road the property sits on, as zoning and amenity differ materially between the northern residential pocket and the southern mixed-use area. Second, check the current SQM vacancy rate for postcode 3012; a low macro SEIFA score does not guarantee low vacancy at the time of purchase. Third, for any unit or apartment, obtain the owners corporation records and assess body corporate health, sinking fund balance, and any outstanding special levies. Fourth, verify flood and planning overlay status through the Victorian Planning Property Report, given the suburb's basaltic clay soils and proximity to the Maribyrnong River corridor. Fifth, price the specific listing against recent comparable sales in the same street type and dwelling category rather than relying on suburb-wide medians. Score the specific listing in PropertyRanker for a verdict that accounts for what this postcode-level SEIFA reading cannot see: current SQM vacancy, body corporate health, flood and overlay status, and pricing against recent comparable sales.
West Footscray's SEIFA IRSAD score of 1039 (decile 8 nationally, 73rd percentile in Victoria) signals an advantaged economic environment, which supports the macro case for stability. That said, a strong postcode-level reading does not make every listing a sound investment; the specific property's price, condition, vacancy exposure, and zoning context all determine the actual outcome. PropertyRanker uses SEIFA as one of twelve scoring signals, so investors should score the individual listing rather than relying on the suburb label alone.
The suburb's inner-city location and advantaged demographic profile align most naturally with PropertyRanker's Capital Growth strategy, which anchors gross yield expectations around 3.5 percent. Investors targeting the Balanced strategy at around 5 percent gross yield may find suitable opportunities in townhouses or multi-dwelling configurations, but would need to verify the income case against current rental evidence for the specific property type. High Yield or Regional strategy thresholds are unlikely to be met by standard residential stock in this postcode without a structural reason that warrants careful scrutiny.
The suburb's internal geography is a key risk factor: the railway line and Sunshine Road divide West Footscray into a residential northern half and a mixed residential, commercial, and industrial southern half, so zoning and amenity vary significantly within the same postcode. Flood and planning overlay exposure should be verified given the suburb's basaltic clay soils and proximity to the Maribyrnong River corridor. For units and apartments, body corporate health and sinking fund adequacy are property-level risks that the SEIFA reading cannot capture. Pricing risk also exists if a listing is benchmarked against suburb-wide medians rather than genuinely comparable recent sales.
West Footscray shares the City of Maribyrnong LGA with Footscray (postcode 3011) and sits close to Yarraville (postcode 3013), two suburbs that are often used as pricing and lifestyle reference points. Each suburb carries its own SEIFA profile, zoning mix, and development pipeline, so a comparison at the postcode level is a starting point rather than a conclusion. Investors should score listings in each suburb individually through PropertyRanker to account for the specific vacancy, overlay, and comparable-sales data that a broad regional comparison cannot provide.
PropertyRanker applies twelve scoring criteria to each listing, of which three draw directly on the SEIFA IRSAD reading: economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk. West Footscray's score of 1039 (decile 8) feeds positively into all three of those criteria. The remaining nine criteria assess property-level and market-level factors that SEIFA cannot see, including current SQM vacancy for postcode 3012, body corporate health for strata properties, flood and planning overlay status, and pricing relative to recent comparable sales in the same dwelling category.
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