Transparency

Data Methodology

How Urbanos collects, calculates and scores suburb and project data. We believe investors deserve to understand where every number comes from.

Suburb Statistics

Statistic	Source	How gathered	Frequency
Median rent	Consumer Affairs Victoria — Moving Annual Rents by Suburb	Quarterly XLSX upload via admin (CAV file)	Quarterly
Median sale price	Valuer General Victoria — Median unit by suburb	Quarterly XLS upload via admin (VG file)	Quarterly
Gross yield	Calculated	(median_rent × 52 / median_price) × 100	On import
Net yield	Calculated (estimate)	Gross yield − 1.5% (typical management & expense allowance)	On import
Vacancy rate	Manual entry	Admin data entry — to be replaced with live source	Ad hoc
1yr price growth	Valuer General (VG unit file)	Year-on-year % change extracted from VG quarterly median unit price file	On VG import
Renter proportion	ABS Census 2021 (manual CSV)	Download from ABS, upload via CSV import tab	Ad hoc
Building approvals	Melbourne City Council Open Data (data.melbourne.vic.gov.au)	Automated weekly sync — inner Melbourne City Council suburbs only. Null for outer suburbs.	Weekly
New build count	Victorian UDP pipeline import	Active development projects matched to suburb — covers all of Victoria	On UDP import
Pipeline count	Calculated	Count of active projects linked to suburb in projects database	On project import
Distance to CBD	Vicmap Admin ArcGIS REST API — locality centroids	Haversine formula from suburb centroid to Melbourne CBD (−37.81°, 144.96°)	One-off / as needed
Region	Calculated	Compass bearing + distance from CBD, classified into Melbourne regions	On enrichment
Growth corridor	Vicmap Planning ArcGIS REST API — GAIC zones	Point-in-polygon check against Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution boundaries	One-off / as needed

Infrastructure & Growth Driver Notes

Infrastructure notes are generated from a combination of static lookups (hardcoded from published government sources) and a live API for City of Melbourne suburbs.

Project type	Source	Method
Level crossing removals	Level Crossing Removal Authority (lxrp.vic.gov.au) — 60+ sites	Hardcoded lookup, updated when LXRA publishes changes
Suburban Rail Loop	SRL Authority (suburbanrailloop.vic.gov.au) — Stage 1 & 2	Hardcoded lookup of confirmed station suburbs
Metro Tunnel	Metro Tunnel project — completed May 2025	Hardcoded lookup of 5 new stations
North East Link / West Gate Tunnel	Big Build Victoria — affected suburbs	Hardcoded lookup
Growth corridor designations	Plan Melbourne — designated growth precincts	Hardcoded lookup aligned with Vicmap GAIC data
Inner-city development activity	City of Melbourne Development Activity Monitor API (data.melbourne.vic.gov.au)	Live API call — project counts and status by small area

Investment Scores

We publish four scores per suburb. The Urbanos Score is our own proprietary model. The remaining three are derived from established external methodologies and are clearly attributed.

Urbanos Score

Our model

A balanced composite score designed specifically for new build property investors. Combines rental yield premium, price growth momentum, rental market tightness, infrastructure-driven location uplift, proximity to Melbourne's CBD, and pipeline supply activity. Captures new-build specific signals that external models don't cover.

FORMULA

yield_component + growth_component + vacancy_component + corridor_bonus + cbd_component + approvals_component + pipeline_component, capped at 100

Source: Urbanos proprietary methodology

Cap Rate Score

External model

Measures net income return on property value — a cash-flow lens independent of location factors. Used by institutional property investors globally. Melbourne market baseline is approximately 3% net yield; 5%+ is considered excellent for residential.

FORMULA

(net_yield − 1.5) ÷ 4.5 × 100, clamped 0–100

Source: Capitalisation rate methodology — CBRE, Colliers; Sivitanides et al. (2001) academic research

SQM Tightness Score

External model

Rental market supply-demand balance, based on SQM Research's vacancy rate classification system published monthly. A vacancy rate below 2% signals a tight rental market with strong investor demand. Refined by suburb renter proportion.

FORMULA

Vacancy tiers: <1% → 90–100 | 1–2% → 70–90 | 2–3% → 45–70 | 3–4% → 20–45 | 4%+ → 0–20; +bonus for renter proportion

Source: SQM Research vacancy rate model (sqmresearch.com.au)

Price-to-Rent Score

External model

Measures whether a suburb's property price is justified by its rental income — lower price-to-rent ratios indicate better investment value. A widely cited method for comparing housing valuations across markets. Melbourne context: a P/R ratio below 22 is considered strong for investors.

FORMULA

P/R = median_price ÷ (median_rent × 52); scored inversely — P/R < 15 → 100, P/R > 35 → ~0

Source: The Economist global property valuation model; OECD housing market indicators

Project Data

Data	Source	How gathered	Frequency
Active development projects	Victorian Urban Development Program 2025 — Major Residential Redevelopments Sites (Dept. of Transport and Planning)	WFS API import via admin (opendata.maps.vic.gov.au) — Under Construction, Firm and Likely statuses only	Annually (UDP updated January each year)
Project coordinates	Nominatim / OpenStreetMap geocoding API	Address-level geocoding via admin batch job (30 projects per call, 1 req/sec)	One-off after each UDP import
Featured project details	Developer websites and direct research	Manual entry via admin — name, developer, description, price range, status	Ad hoc
Project cover images	Developer marketing material	Manual upload via admin — auto-resized to 1200×800 and stored in Supabase Storage	Ad hoc

Known Limitations & Data Gaps

Vacancy rate, 1yr price growth and renter proportion are currently manually entered and may not reflect the most recent data. We are working to integrate live data sources for these fields.
Building permit data from Melbourne Open Data covers only the City of Melbourne LGA — outer suburban and growth corridor approvals are not included in this feed.
The Victorian UDP dataset is updated once per year (January). Projects completed or commenced between updates may not be reflected immediately.
Net yield is an estimate based on a flat 1.5% deduction from gross yield. Actual net yield will vary by property type, management costs and individual circumstances.
All scores are indicative only and do not constitute financial advice. Past performance of a suburb does not guarantee future returns.

Last reviewed: June 2026. Data sources and methodologies are reviewed quarterly. For questions about our data, contact us at data@urbanos.com.au.