Wembley, WA 6014Home loan and property guide

Wembley location and character

Wembley lies approximately 4.5 km north-west of the Perth CBD. Landgate boundary data shows the suburb running from Salvado Road in the south to Herdsman Lake and Powis Street in the north, and from Selby Street in the west to the Mitchell Freeway in the east, with Lake Monger Drive along the southern shore of Lake Monger. Almost all of it is in the Town of Cambridge, while a strip of Herdsman Lake parkland on the northern edge is in the City of Stirling.

Cambridge Street is the main street, and the Town describes the Wembley Activity Centre on it as centrally located within the Town. Places on the State Register of Heritage Places in the suburb include the Catherine McAuley Centre, the former St Vincent's Foundlings Home and the former Benedictine Stables. Two wetlands frame the housing: Lake Monger, which the Town also calls Galup, on the eastern side, and Herdsman Lake to the north.

Transport and amenity in Wembley

Wembley has no train station, although the Yanchep Line runs beside the Mitchell Freeway along its eastern edge. The Town's draft Wembley Precinct Structure Plan names Daglish and Subiaco, on the Fremantle and Airport lines, as the nearest stations to the Cambridge Street centre. Public Transport Authority records place Glendalough Station on the Yanchep Line north of the suburb in Osborne Park. Bus routes 81 to 85 link Wembley with Perth Busport, and routes 84, 85 and 95 connect with West Leederville, Glendalough and Subiaco stations.

St John of God Subiaco Hospital stands immediately east of the suburb boundary between Cambridge Street and Salvado Road. Its address is in Subiaco, and state health records list it as a private acute hospital. Government schools in the suburb are Wembley Primary School on Grantham Street and Lake Monger Primary School on Dodd Street, and Bold Park Community School, an independent school, is on Powis Street. Shops, cafes and services are concentrated along Cambridge Street.

Open space is a defining feature. Galup (Lake Monger) Reserve, for which the Town has a management plan, occupies the south-east of the suburb. Herdsman Lake Regional Park extends along the northern boundary. Homes close to the Mitchell Freeway and the railway sit beside a major transport corridor, which buyers may wish to weigh against proximity to the lake paths and the freeway access.

Housing stock in Wembley

The Town's draft Wembley Precinct Structure Plan describes the suburb's housing as an eclectic mix of post-war traditional family homes, older style low and mid-rise apartment buildings, grouped dwellings and newer houses, townhouses and apartments, and notes that Wembley has a greater share of grouped dwellings and apartments than the Town as a whole. The same document traces the Cambridge Street centre to the 1930s and 1940s, after a tram line reached Nanson Street in 1927 and the Wembley Hotel in 1935.

The 2021 Census counted 1,583 occupied flats or apartments, of which only 192 were in blocks of four to eight storeys and 44 in blocks of nine or more, so most are in low-rise buildings. Inspections of older flats often focus on concrete, roofing, plumbing and common property, while older houses commonly show ageing roofs, old wiring and timber pest damage. Renovated houses on full lots close to the lakes are the scarce category.

Who lives and buys in Wembley

The 2021 Census counted 12,061 residents in Wembley, with a median age of 37 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.4 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Of 4,790 occupied private dwellings, 2,331 were separate houses, 1,583 were flats or apartments and 865 were semi-detached, terrace or townhouse dwellings. Houses therefore made up 48.7 per cent of occupied homes, well below the national share of 72.3 per cent, while apartments made up 33.0 per cent, more than double the national share of 14.2 per cent.

Renting was the most common tenure. The Census recorded 1,774 rented dwellings, 1,482 owned with a mortgage and 1,359 owned outright, so 37.3 per cent of households with a stated tenure were renting, compared with 30.6 per cent across Australia, while 31.2 per cent had a mortgage and 28.6 per cent owned outright. Median weekly household income was $2,005 against $1,746 nationally. Median weekly rent was $290, below the national median of $375, consistent with many older flats, while median monthly mortgage repayments were $2,458 against $1,863.

The largest ten-year age group was 35 to 44 years, with 2,059 residents, followed by 1,889 aged 25 to 34 and 1,675 children aged 5 to 14. Two-bedroom dwellings were the most common size at 1,549 homes, ahead of 1,446 with three bedrooms and 997 with four. For a buyer, the figures describe two markets side by side: families and upgraders competing for houses, and first home buyers and investors in flats and townhouses.

Planning, the new scheme and hazards in Wembley

Development is currently controlled by the Town of Cambridge Local Planning Scheme No. 1, guided by a Local Planning Strategy endorsed by the Western Australian Planning Commission on 30 April 2021. A replacement, Local Planning Scheme No. 2, was advertised until 30 January 2026. The Town reports that on 28 July 2026 Council resolved to support it subject to modifications, including reduced density coding along the Cambridge Street urban corridor, and that a decision by the Commission and the Minister for Planning is anticipated in late 2026 or early 2027.

The Cambridge Street centre has its own plan. The Wembley Activity Centre Plan was approved by the Commission on 26 June 2018, and the Town has prepared a revised Wembley Precinct Structure Plan, which Council supported in August 2025 and referred to the Commission for determination. Until both documents are finalised, zoning, density codes and building heights near Cambridge Street remain subject to change. The Town adopted its first Heritage List in 2018, and listed places require planning approval for demolition and most development works.

The Map of Bush Fire Prone Areas designates land in the north-west corner of the suburb beside Herdsman Lake, where additional planning and building requirements may apply. Department of Water and Environmental Regulation floodplain mapping does not extend to Wembley. State Planning Policy 5.4 maps major traffic routes and the passenger railway within or beside the suburb as transport noise corridors, which can affect the conditions attached to new dwellings close to them.

Buying in Wembley: offers, strata records and costs

Most private sales in Western Australia are made on an offer and acceptance form. Consumer Protection WA explains that the form becomes a binding contract once both parties have agreed all terms and signed, and that there is no mandatory cooling-off period, so any conditions for finance approval or for building and timber pest inspections need to be written into the offer itself. A sale on an as is basis, which the regulator describes as one where the seller will not agree to special conditions such as inspections, leaves the buyer with little protection in an older dwelling.

With so many flats and townhouses in Wembley, strata records deserve close reading. Landgate states that the seller of a strata lot must give the buyer a precontractual disclosure statement before the contract is signed, and suggests that buyers also ask about insurance, the strata council and any ten-year plan. Transfer duty, settlement agent fees and registration fees are the main upfront costs. The stamp duty calculator on this site gives a general estimate, and first home buyers can check their eligibility for duty relief with RevenueWA.

Home loan considerations for Wembley property

Older flats are the most common entry point and raise specific lending questions. Some lenders apply minimum internal floor areas, which can exclude small one-bedroom and studio units, and some limit exposure to a single building or postcode. Strata levies are counted in serviceability assessments and reduce borrowing power, and a valuer will consider the condition of the building, the reserve fund and any planned remedial works. Where the deposit is small, lenders mortgage insurance is likely to apply.

Established houses are generally straightforward security, although valuations depend on condition and on comparable sales. Buyers planning a major renovation or a rebuild may need a construction loan, drawn in stages against a fixed-price contract and approved plans. Investors may wish to note that lenders typically count only part of the rent when assessing capacity, so rental yield alone does not determine what can be borrowed. The deposit calculator and borrowing power calculator on this site illustrate how levies, deposits and repayments interact.

Lending considerations for Wembley

• Small one-bedroom and studio flats may fall below the minimum internal floor area that certain lenders and mortgage insurers require.
• Strata levies, the reserve fund and planned remedial works in older blocks affect both valuation and borrowing capacity assessments.
• Western Australian contracts carry no mandatory cooling-off period, so finance and inspection conditions need to be written into the offer.
• A new local planning scheme and a revised Cambridge Street precinct plan were awaiting state decisions as at September 2026.
• Renovation or rebuild projects usually need a construction loan drawn in stages against a fixed-price contract and approved plans.

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.