Renovation costs
by suburb
Eighteen Melbourne suburbs, each written separately. Ranges are for a typical local project, so they are not directly comparable — a Fitzroy figure buys 30 square metres and a Brighton figure buys 55. That is the point.
Inner north
Pre-1920 weatherboard, narrow blocks.
Brunswick 3056Solid brick, deep allotments.
Thornbury 3071Wider blocks. Access is often the saving.
Preston 3072Post-war brick veneer. Cheapest in the index.
Coburg 3058Two housing eras in one postcode.
Inner city and south
Access is the cost, not floor area.
Richmond 3121Cottages, tight sites, industrial history.
Albert Park 3206The most constrained sites in this index.
Armadale 3143Terraces on narrow allotments.
Elwood 3184Flood overlay shapes the design first.
Inner east
Large period houses, extensive heritage.
Kew 3101Big blocks, steep ground toward the Yarra.
Camberwell 3124Bungalow country. Sound underneath.
Balwyn 3103Flat blocks, light heritage, rebuild competition.
Malvern 3144Edwardian detail is the specialist cost.
Bayside and west
Biggest blocks. Salt drives specification.
Essendon 3040Generous blocks with genuine access.
Williamstown 3016Melbourne’s oldest stock, coastal exposure.
Reading the differences
Northcote and Fitzroy show the same headline range, but the Northcote figure buys 40 square metres and the Fitzroy figure buys 30. That gap is the clearest illustration of the point this whole index exists to make: on a constrained inner-city site you are paying for delivery, not floor area.
The premium eastern suburbs read as expensive, and they are — but not for the reason most people assume. Building in Hawthorn does not cost more per square metre because of the postcode. It costs more because the houses are larger, the finish is specified higher, and heritage coverage adds design time. Our location adjustment reflects site constraint and labour rates, not what the street is worth.
Compare Balwyn with Albert Park. Balwyn has flat blocks, machinery access, sound interwar footings and light heritage coverage. Albert Park has none of those things. The land in Albert Park is worth more; the building conditions are worse. Those are separate facts, and only one of them is in your build cost.
The Fitzroy to Preston spread runs to roughly $130,000 on the same 40 square metre extension. Almost none of that is land value. It is building era, site access and heritage coverage — three things you can check before you buy, and three things nobody mentions at an inspection.
The estimator covers all of Melbourne
Inner, middle-ring and outer bands are all built in. Eight questions and you will see your own range.
Last updated 28 July 2026