Richmond, VIC 3121Home loan and property guide

Location and character of Richmond

Richmond lies about 3 km east of the Melbourne CBD within the City of Yarra. East Melbourne and the sporting precinct around the Melbourne Cricket Ground sit on its western side, Collingwood and Abbotsford lie to the north, and the Yarra River separates it from Kew and Hawthorn to the east. Cremorne, Burnley and South Yarra adjoin it to the south. Three east-west streets, Victoria Street, Bridge Road and Swan Street, each carry trams and a retail strip, and Church Street runs north-south between them. Richmond Town Hall on Bridge Road houses Yarra City Council.

The suburb developed as a manufacturing district in the nineteenth century, and firms such as Bryant and May, Pelaco and the Wertheim piano works left substantial factory buildings behind. Many of these have since been adapted for housing and offices, which gives parts of Richmond a mixed streetscape of cottages, brick warehouses and newer apartment blocks. Victoria Street is widely known for its Vietnamese restaurants and grocers, Bridge Road combines retail with health services, and Swan Street functions as a dining and entertainment strip close to the main railway station.

Transport and amenity in Richmond

Richmond station is one of the principal interchanges on the metropolitan network. It is served by the Belgrave, Lilydale, Glen Waverley, Frankston and Sandringham lines, by peak Alamein services and by V/Line trains on the Gippsland line. Cranbourne and Pakenham trains, which formerly called at Richmond, now run through the Metro Tunnel instead. Smaller stations at East Richmond, West Richmond and North Richmond serve other parts of the suburb. Trams run on Victoria Street (routes 12 and 109), Bridge Road (routes 48 and 75), Swan Street (route 70) and Church Street (route 78).

Epworth Richmond, a large private hospital, is located on Bridge Road, and The Melbourne Clinic operates on Church Street. Government schools include Richmond High School, a co-educational secondary school with campuses in Griffiths Street and Gleadell Street, Melbourne Girls' College, Richmond Primary School in Brighton Street and Richmond West Primary School, which teaches Mandarin and Vietnamese bilingual programs. Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre sits at the eastern end of Victoria Street. Open space includes Citizens Park, Barkly Gardens and Burnley Park, and the Capital City Trail and Yarra River trail follow the river corridor.

Housing stock in Richmond

Much of the detached and semi-detached housing in Richmond dates from the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Single-fronted timber and brick workers' cottages on narrow allotments are common, often without off-street parking and frequently extended at the rear. Rows of terraces appear throughout the suburb, and the elevated area known as Richmond Hill contains a number of larger period homes. Because so much of this housing predates modern construction standards, the condition of footings, roofing, wiring, damp-proofing and earlier renovations varies considerably from one property to the next, and a building inspection is commonly obtained.

Alongside the period housing, Richmond has a large supply of attached and strata-titled dwellings. These include converted warehouses and factories, townhouses built on former industrial sites, older walk-up blocks of flats from the post-war decades and contemporary apartment buildings concentrated along the main roads and near the railway stations. Apartment sizes range from compact one-bedroom units to large residences. Freestanding houses on full-sized blocks with parking are the scarcest form of housing in the suburb, which is one reason townhouses and warehouse conversions attract households that might elsewhere buy a detached home.

Who lives and buys in Richmond

The 2021 Census counted 28,587 residents in Richmond, with a median age of 34 against a national median of 38. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest group, at 9,002 residents, and the average household size was 2 compared with 2.5 nationally. Of the 13,301 occupied private dwellings, 7,054 were flats or apartments, 4,081 were semi-detached, terrace or townhouse dwellings and only 2,081 were separate houses. That equates to roughly 53.0 per cent apartments and 15.6 per cent houses, almost the reverse of the national pattern, where separate houses made up 72.3 per cent of dwellings.

Renting is the dominant tenure. Excluding households that did not state their tenure, 7,280 households rented, which is about 55.3 per cent, while 2,501 owned outright and 3,224 owned with a mortgage. The 2021 Census recorded a median weekly rent of $441, above the Australian median of $375, and median monthly mortgage repayments of $2,292 compared with $1,863 nationally. Median weekly household income was $2,245 against $1,746 for Australia. For a buyer, these figures describe a young, relatively high-income population of small households, with deep rental demand and a housing market weighted towards two-bedroom dwellings, which numbered 5,831.

Planning, development and risks in Richmond

Yarra City Council rewrote the local policies in its planning scheme through Amendment C269, which the Minister for Planning approved in December 2023. The policy directs growth to activity centres, naming Bridge Road, Swan Street and Victoria Street among the major activity centres of the municipality, and uses Design and Development Overlays to set building heights and setbacks there. Residential land is sorted into minimal, incremental, moderate and high change areas. Minimal change areas are typically heritage streets in the Neighbourhood Residential Zone with small lots, so buyers of cottages should expect limited redevelopment potential and neighbours with similar constraints.

Heritage controls are a practical consideration across much of the older housing. The updated heritage policy covers residential, commercial and former industrial places and sets tests for how far rear additions may extend, so renovation plans may need a planning permit. On flooding, the council's policy seeks raised floor levels and carefully designed basements in affected areas. Melbourne Water explains that the Land Subject to Inundation Overlay applies to flooding from waterways, which is relevant near the Yarra River, while the Special Building Overlay identifies land prone to overland stormwater flows. Both trigger permit requirements, and a planning property report shows whether either applies.

Buying property in Richmond under Victorian rules

Auctions are a common method of sale for Richmond houses, and this matters because Victorian law treats auction purchases differently. Consumer Affairs Victoria states that a cooling-off period of three clear business days applies to private sales of residential property, starting when the buyer signs, but that it does not apply to property bought at a public auction or within three business days either side of one. An auction contract is also unconditional unless the seller agrees otherwise, so finance approval, the vendor statement and any building inspection generally need to be dealt with before bidding.

For private sales, buyers can make offers conditional on finance or on a building inspection, and the deposit is normally held in trust until the conditions for its release are met. Land transfer duty is payable to the State Revenue Office on the purchase. The office lists concessions or exemptions for first home buyers, for a principal place of residence, for eligible pensioners and for off-the-plan purchases. A temporary concession for off-the-plan dwellings in strata developments applies to contracts signed up to 20 April 2027, which may be relevant to new Richmond apartments. The stamp duty calculator gives a general estimate.

Home loan considerations in Richmond

Because apartments make up more than half of occupied dwellings in Richmond, lender policy on strata-titled property is relevant to many purchases. Some lenders apply minimum internal floor area requirements, reduce the maximum loan-to-value ratio for small or high-density apartments, or limit their exposure to particular postcodes or buildings. Buyers with a small deposit will generally be charged lenders mortgage insurance, and insurers can apply their own restrictions to apartment types. Owners corporation records, including fees, the maintenance fund, insurance, any building defect or cladding matters and planned special levies, are usually reviewed before contracts are signed.

Unusual dwellings can be harder to value. Warehouse conversions, cottages on very small allotments and properties without car parking have fewer directly comparable sales, and a valuation below the purchase price increases the deposit a buyer must contribute. This risk is sharper at auction, where there is no finance condition. Buyers planning to fund renovations may find that a lender wants planning and building approvals in place before releasing construction funds, which takes longer for a property under a heritage control. Flood-related overlays can influence insurance premiums, and lenders require building insurance to be in place at settlement.

Lending considerations for Richmond

• Some lenders apply minimum floor area rules or lower maximum loan-to-value ratios to small and high-density apartments.
• Postcode or building concentration limits may apply to inner-city apartments, which can narrow the choice of lender.
• Auction purchases in Victoria carry no cooling-off period or finance condition, so approval is usually arranged before bidding.
• Heritage controls are widespread and can lengthen the approval process for renovations a buyer intends to finance.
• Warehouse conversions, very small allotments and homes without parking can produce valuation variance because comparable sales are limited.
• Owners corporation fees, maintenance funds, defect matters and special levies should be reviewed for any strata-titled purchase.

Lender policy differs between institutions and changes over time. The guide to Australian lenders explains how credit policy varies, and the home loan guide sets out the main loan structures.