Property prices and rents are sourced from Domain and CoreLogic (refreshed quarterly); crime rates from CSA VIC (Victorian Crime Statistics Agency); population and Chinese percentage from ABS 2021 Census; school composite scores calculated in-house from ACARA / VCAA data.

What are the six dimensions covered?▾

Property (median house/unit prices, 10-year trend, rental yield), Safety (crime rate per 100K, crime type breakdown, state comparison), Community (total population, Chinese percentage, top ethnicities, age distribution), Schools (nearby public/private/selective schools with scores and rankings), Transport (train stations, commute minutes to CBD) and an overall area Overview.

Where do Chinese families typically settle in Melbourne?▾

Melbourne's Chinese clusters are mainly in the East (Box Hill / Glen Waverley / Doncaster), South-East (Carnegie / Caulfield / Clayton), and increasingly in Point Cook in the West.

How should I use AU Guide to shortlist suburbs efficiently?▾

A three-step workflow: (1) filter the directory by price, Chinese percentage and crime rate to drop obvious mismatches; (2) open each shortlisted suburb to compare schools, commute and demographics; (3) finally use the Suburb Match tool for a personalised Top-5 recommendation. The process is more quantitative than relying on WeChat anecdotes.

How often is the data updated?▾

Property prices, rents and crime rates are reviewed quarterly. School composite scores are updated annually after VCE results. Census-based fields follow the ABS cycle and will be refreshed after the 2026 Census release.

How are the "region" categories defined?▾

We merge ABS SA4 boundaries and adjust for Chinese-family commute patterns, e.g. Inner / Eastern / South-East / Northern / Western Melbourne plus Mornington Peninsula and Greater Geelong. Click any region chip in the hero to filter.