Green is 2 points, amber is 1, red is 0. Fourteen available. Take them in this order, because the cheap ones knock suburbs out before you spend time on the expensive ones.
1
The twelve month median, and which kind
The median price, plus whether the figure is a median of what sold or a hedonic index that holds the property constant. Two different questions, two different answers.
GreenYou have both measures, both dated, and you know which is which.
AmberYou have one measure only.
RedYou have a number with no source and no date, or you do not know which kind it is.
Where to get it, free. Domain and realestate.com.au suburb profiles for the median of sales. Cotality and PropTrack sub-region tables for the index. Your state Valuer General for the sales register.
Why it is on the sheet. A median of sales drifts when the mix of what sells changes. Hampton Park reads plus 7.4 per cent on a median of sales and its sub-region reads plus 0.7 per cent on an index, over the same twelve months. Both are correct. Only one of them answers the question you are actually asking.
2
Rent growth, set against price growth
Twelve month rent growth minus twelve month price growth. The gap is the number, not either figure on its own.
GreenRent growth equal to or above price growth.
AmberPrice ahead of rent by up to three points.
RedPrice ahead of rent by more than three points, and worst of all a rent that has not moved at all while the price rose.
Where to get it, free. SQM Research weekly rents, free with a login. Domain and realestate.com.au rental medians. Your own rental appraisal from two local managers.
Why it is on the sheet. This is the trap. If the price rises and the rent does not, your yield falls and your holding cost rises at the same time. Across the seven suburbs graded below, price outran rent in every single one, by an average of 5.3 points. That tells you something about the market, so use this field to rank suburbs against each other rather than against an absolute.
3
Vacancy, and the change in it
The vacancy rate now, and the vacancy rate twelve months ago. The direction matters more than the level.
GreenUnder 2 per cent, and flat or falling.
AmberBetween 2 and 3 per cent, or under 2 but risen by more than half a point.
RedOver 3 per cent, or risen by more than half again on where it was.
Where to get it, free. SQM Research vacancy rates by postcode, free. REIV and your state institute monthly releases.
Why it is on the sheet. Craigieburn was 1.91 per cent when I named it and is 2.9 now. That is the highest of the seven and a rise of more than half again. A level on its own would not have caught it.
4
Days on market
How long the median listing takes to sell, against the capital city benchmark and against the same suburb a year ago.
GreenBelow the capital city figure and not rising faster than it.
AmberAbove the capital city figure but stable.
RedAbove the capital city figure and rising.
Where to get it, free. Domain suburb profile, days on market. Cotality monthly chart pack, free download, for the capital city benchmark.
Why it is on the sheet. The capital city figure is 33 days as at August 2026, against 26 a year earlier. All seven suburbs below sit under it, from Carrum Downs at 9 to Epping at 30. In a falling market this is the field that moves first.
5
Months of supply
Houses for sale right now, divided by the number that sold in the last twelve months divided by twelve. Never the raw listing count.
GreenUnder 3 months.
AmberBetween 3 and 5 months.
RedOver 5 months.
Where to get it, free. Count live listings on realestate.com.au with the filters set to house and the suburb. Sold counts from the same portal or your state Valuer General.
Why it is on the sheet. This is the field that catches people out, and it caught me. Craigieburn has 333 houses for sale, more than double any other suburb on the list, and it looks alarming. Divide it by how many sell and Craigieburn is 3.4 months, the third tightest of the seven. Cranbourne, with 157 listings, is 5.0 months. The raw count was measuring how big the suburb is.
6
Clearance rate
The suburb clearance rate against the metropolitan clearance rate for the same week.
GreenMore than 10 points above the metro rate.
AmberWithin 10 points of the metro rate.
RedBelow the metro rate.
Where to get it, free. Cotality weekly auction results, free, finals and never preliminary. REIV weekend results. Domain auction report.
Why it is on the sheet. Always compare a suburb against its own city in the same week, never against a number you remember. Metro clearance is published every Monday and it moves week to week, which is why there is no figure printed here. On the week these seven were graded, six of them cleared above Melbourne metro. Cranbourne at 53.0 per cent did not, and it was the only one of the seven below its own city.
7
Under construction, not announced
Not a number. One piece of infrastructure in the catchment that is physically being built, with a source and a completion date.
GreenAt least one project under construction, with a URL and a completion date you can write down.
AmberA contract awarded but no work started.
RedEverything you can find is an announcement, a business case, a strategy or a plan.
Where to get it, free. Your council capital works program and tender awards. Big Build Victoria or your state equivalent, filtered to under construction. Council planning scheme amendments for what is only proposed.
Why it is on the sheet. Announcements get cancelled and business cases get shelved. A contract awarded and a site fenced does not. This is the only field that is not a number, and it is the one that most often separates a corridor that gets built from one that gets talked about.
