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Suburb profile ·Colac Otway LGA · VIC ·3250

Colac West VIC 3250

Colac West is in Colac Otway LGA, VIC, postcode 3250, with population 89.

Limited data

Thin-context

The page is still useful for local context, but the evidence stack is too thin for a clean one-page call. Use nearby stronger suburbs or compare mode before treating it as a serious shortlist decision.

Why it fits

Higher SEIFA context supports a stronger local-quality read.

What to check

The page is thin enough that nearby alternatives should be checked before shortlisting. Small local population makes the signal set more fragile.

Median house
No local house series
Median rent
$450/wk
Rent context available
D10 vs AU
Gross yield
Need rent + price
Population
22,209
22K via Colac Otway LGA · SAL undercount
Schools
No matched school data
Drive to city
Not in commute dataset
Solar
1,578
116 added 12mo · 10MW

Price history

No price history available

Price series isn't recorded for this suburb. Census housing data is shown instead.

Median mortgage · mth$1,300
Median rent · wk$230

Rental vacancy rate

Rental vacancy rate · Regional Victoria
1.9%
Tight (landlord) market

Official vacancy is published at the Regional Victoria level, not per suburb. Shaded band marks a balanced market (2.5–3.5%).

Source: Homes Victoria Rental Report (DFFH) · Latest: Sep 2025
Investor profile

Who invests in Colac West

Owner-occupied 48%Rented 52%
Investor activityATO
Negatively geared4.1%
317 of 725 landlords
Avg rental loss$5,759/yr
Landlords (rental income)725
Reported capital gains569
The read

Mixed owner-renter market

41% of homes here are owner-occupied and 44% rented, with 4% of landlords negatively geared.

Why it fits

A balanced 41% owner-occupier / 44% renter mix.

ABS Census 2021 tenure (G37), ATO postcode rental statistics, and QuickProperty's investor-exposure index. Owner-occupied = owned outright + with a mortgage.

Affordability

31%
median weekly rent as a share of gross household income (the 30% rule)
Stretched

Owners with a mortgage repay a median of $1,300/mo, while renters pay about $1,950/mo — renting runs $650/mo higher on these medians.

Household income · yr
$77K
Median rent · wk
$450
Owner mortgage · mo
$1,300

Household income

$77K household · yr-6.9% vs VIC suburb median
Personal
$45K
Family
$94K
Household
$77K

Housing stock and tenure

Tenure (32 households)
Owned outright
19%
Owned with mortgage
22%
Rented
44%
Dwelling structure
Separate house
78%
Townhouse / semi
0%
Flat / apartment
0%

Getting to work: 87% drive, 0% public transport, 27% walk or cycle, 10% worked from home (2021 Census, taken during COVID-era work-from-home arrangements).

Crime Year ending Mar 2026
1,954
8,804 per 100k
D9 vs AU

Crime

Rate · per 100k8,804
Total incidents1,954· Year ending Mar 2026
  • Assault17150%
  • Sexual Offences7221%
  • Robbery21%
  • Break And Enter9829%

Bushfire-prone area

Partly designated ~97.2%
~97.2% of the suburb is within Victoria's designated Bushfire Prone Area

Share of the suburb within Victoria's gazetted Bushfire Prone Area (Vicmap, CC BY), point-sampled across the suburb. A Bushfire Prone Area is a planning designation that triggers the building code's bushfire construction provisions — it is not a graduated hazard rating or a property-level Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessment. Obtain a BAL assessment (AS 3959) for an individual property.

Flood exposure

No mapped exposure ~0.5%
~0.5% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood-hazard area

Estimated exposure to the official flood-hazard layer (VIC LSIO), point-sampled across the suburb. This shows how much of the suburb sits within mapped flood-planning areas — it is not a property-level flood certificate. Areas without a completed flood study may be unmapped. Check the local council's flood maps for an individual property.

Planning zones

Dominant zone Farming (FZ)
Rural / Green wedge 84% Public / Open space 6% Commercial / Mixed 6% Industrial 4%

Land-use mix estimated by point-sampling the suburb against Vicmap Planning scheme-zone polygons (CC BY 4.0). This is a suburb-level snapshot of planning zones, not a parcel-level zoning certificate or development advice. Check the relevant planning scheme for an individual property.

Population outlook

12,621 people · 202212,913 by 2032 (+2.3%)

ABS population projection (2022 base) for the Colac SA2 statistical area — the finest official projection grain available; suburb-level projections do not exist.

Full data detail Census · ATO · ABS · state datasets
Colac West VIC — Property Data and Demographics

Colac West is a sparsely populated locality in Victoria within the Colac Otway local government area (postcode 3250). With a population of 89, the suburb has a younger, working-age population with a median age of 30. Households earn a median income of $77K per year, with an average household size of 2.7 people. Recent annual estimates show population movement staying broadly stable across the broader catchment, with population growth running at +0.0% year-on-year at the LGA level. VIC employment has moved +0.9% year-on-year in the official ABS Labour Force trend series, which provides the broader jobs backdrop for this suburb. VIC also had 41 Commonwealth-backed major projects under construction, 18 underway, and 24 in planning as at 2025-09-01, which is useful as a broader delivery backdrop rather than a suburb-specific project count. The most common occupations are labourers, technicians & trades, managers. Employment in the area leans toward construction and agriculture. The top ancestries reported are Australian, English, Irish.

The current median weekly rent is $450. The median monthly mortgage repayment is $1,300.

Public transport access includes 1 bus stop. The crime rate in the Colac Otway LGA is higher than average at 8,804 incidents per 100,000 population.

On the investment side, Population growth of +0.0% year-on-year points to stable demand fundamentals. Building approvals have changed +0% year-on-year, indicating steady development activity.

Market & money
Investment signalsHeuristics
Pop. Growth+0.0%· Stable
Development+0%· Steady
InvestmentVIC
Mortgage · mth$1,300
Rent · wk(Census)$230
Market rent · wk(Sep 2025)$450
Population growth · Colac Otway LGAABS ERP
Population (2025)22,209
5-year growth-0.1% CAGR
YoY change+0%
20012025
Development · Colac Otway LGAABS Approvals
Approvals (2026)160
Houses 86%Units 14%
YoY change+0%
Employment · Colac Otway LGASALM
Unemployment (Dec-25)2%
YoY change+0.1pp
Dec-10Dec-25
Property investors · Postcode 3250ATO
Negatively geared4.1%
317 of filers
Avg rental loss$5,759/yr
Landlords (rental income)725
Reported capital gains569
People & prosperity
DemographicsCensus 21
Population89
Median age30
Household size2.7
HH income · wk$1,474
Personal income · wk$857
Persons / bedroom0.9
SEIFA indexABS
Advantage (IRSAD)7/10
Education (IEO)2/10
Economic (IER)10/10
Disadvantage (IRSD)4/10
Income momentumCensus 16→21
HH income · wk$939 → $1,474
Change+57%
vs VIC median+33.5 pp
Median rent+15%
gentrifyingvs VIC 2016–21
Area & amenity
Local amenitiesOSM
Supermarkets0
Pharmacies0
GP / clinics0
Fuel stations3
Cafes & dining0
TransportGTFS
Bus stops1
Hospitals · Colac Otway LGAAIHW
Public2
Private0
Colac Area Healthpublic
Otway Health & Community Services [Apollo Bay]public
Aged care · Colac Otway LGAGEN
Facilities6
Residential places274
Mercy Place Colac109 places
Corangamarah75 places
Calvary Barongarook Gardens60 places
Apollo Bay Multi-Purpose Service30 places
Otway HealthShort-Term Restorative Care (STRC)
Prompt Care STRC - Vic RuralShort-Term Restorative Care (STRC)
Childcare · Colac Otway LGAACECQA
Services22
Approved places828
Exceeding NQS3
Nido Early School Colac91 places
LITTLE TIKES EARLY LEARNING88 places
Millville Children's Centre85 places
Apex Preschool69 places
Apollo Bay Kindergarten66 places
Wydinia Kindergarten48 places
+16 more in Colac Otway LGA
Shortlist workspace

Save suburbs here while you browse. Once the shortlist has two or more names, hand it straight into compare.

Current status
Add Colac West if it deserves a shortlist slot.

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EMPTY SET

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Sources & freshness
Strong evidence

Colac West has enough direct local evidence for a first-pass decision.

QuickProperty mixes release files, Census baselines, and matched local services on this page. Read the status panel before treating every metric as equally fresh.

PRICE POSTURE
Manual release files still matter here.

DataVic-discovered annual suburb price workbooks parsed into suburb prices. Quarterly VIC resources are discovered and cached, but not yet used as current-price anchors.

RENT POSTURE
Rent is using a state market dataset when available.

Use current rent as a starting signal, not as a fixed underwriting truth.

SERVICE POSTURE
Service coverage is matched locally, not inferred nationally.

Schools, transport, and hospitals are useful as presence signals, but they still have different source cadences.

Data status
Property prices
VIC Property Sales Report · DataVic-discovered annual suburb price workbooks parsed into suburb prices. Quarterly VIC resources are discovered and cached, but not yet used as current-price anchors.
medium stability · mixed acquisition · every update · quarterly
Missing
Market rent
Homes Victoria · Sep 2025 · State market dataset
medium stability · automated · every update · quarterly
Available
Crime
VIC Crime Statistics Agency · Year ending Mar 2026 · Area-level release dataset
Available
Schools
ACARA 2025 · No local school matches exposed
stable source · automated · every update · annual
Missing
Hospitals
AIHW · No linked local hospital coverage
medium stability · manual file · snapshot · mixed
Missing
Transport
GTFS feeds · 1 matched stops/stations
medium stability · manual file · snapshot · mixed
Available
Population growth
ABS ERP · 2025 · Annual estimate series
stable source · automated · every update · annual
Available
Building approvals
ABS Building Approvals · 2026 · Annual release series
stable source · automated · every update · monthly
Available
Available means a direct local dataset is linked. Verify means coverage exists but freshness or precision is weaker, such as ABS price fallback, Census rent fallback, or low-confidence hospital matching.
Sparse locality note

This page stays indexable because Colac West is a real locality with enough context to be directionally useful. The tradeoff is that coverage is lighter than a stronger suburb profile, so the read should stay cautious.

WHY IT LOOKS LIGHTER
This is a real locality, but it has a very small Census footprint.

Small-population localities can still be worth checking, but rankings, comparisons, and broad suburb assumptions become noisier faster.

WHAT IS MISSING
Coverage is lighter across school matches and hospital coverage.

The lighter areas here are school matches and hospital coverage, so a single-page read should carry less weight than usual.

BEST NEXT STEP
Use this page to understand the locality shape, then compare outward.

Start here for context, then open compare, the state hub, or larger nearby suburbs before treating this as a complete market decision.

Page status
INDEXED WITH LIGHTER COVERAGE

This page remains visible, but it should be read as a locality brief rather than a full-confidence suburb profile.

HOW TO READ THIS PAGE

Read it as a direction-setter rather than a final answer: frame the locality, then verify with compare, stronger nearby suburbs, and the state hub.

Stronger nearby reads

If Colac West feels too thin on its own, use these nearby suburbs as stronger local reads before making a shortlist decision.

Irrewillipe East most similar
similar rent profile similar suburb scale

pop same · rent -$212/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Irrewillipe most similar
similar rent profile similar suburb scale

pop same · rent -$221/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Johanna most similar
similar rent profile similar suburb scale

pop same · rent -$250/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Colac West FAQ

Common questions
  1. What LGA is Colac West in?

    Colac West is in the Colac Otway Local Government Area, VIC, postcode 3250. Council-level context for Colac Otway LGA (suburb mix, population, rent, and price coverage) is available on the QuickProperty LGA page.

  2. What is the typical weekly rent in Colac West?

    The median weekly rent in Colac West is $450/wk, based on the current market rent dataset. The current rent signal is rent context available.

  3. What does the rent signal say about Colac West?

    Rent context available: Colac West has usable rent context. Use this as a suburb screening signal before comparing candidates or modelling a purchase; the matching rent ranking can provide broader market context.

  4. Is Colac West a good investment?

    QuickProperty's investment signals for Colac West show: Stable, Steady. These are computed from price, rent, income, and population data — not an opaque score.

  5. Where does QuickProperty get its data for Colac West?

    Property prices come from state Valuers General offices and ABS Data by Region. Demographics are from ABS Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA. Crime statistics are from state police agencies. Transport data is sourced from GTFS feeds.

  6. How often is the Colac West data updated?

    Property prices update quarterly. RBA macro indicators update with each deploy. Demographics are from Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA 2025.