Welcome to the City of Whitehorse Population Forecasts

The City of Whitehorse is located in Melbourne’s middle eastern suburbs, between 12 and 22 kilometres east of the Melbourne GPO. The area is predominantly residential but includes major retail and commercial centres at Box Hill, Nunawading-Mitcham and Forest Hill. The City also includes Deakin University’s Melbourne Campus. While settlement in Box Hill dates from the 1850s, significant development of the area dates from the 1880s after the arrival of the railway. The City contains residential development dating from this early period in the west to areas in the City’s south east where greenfield development continued until the 1980s. Housing development was initially focussed around rail and tram lines, but these ‘gaps’ were filled in during the post-war period. The primary housing market role that the City of Whitehorse has played during the post-war period was to provide home owning opportunities for families and prospective families from the inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

The variety of periods of settlement in the City mean that various suburbs are at quite different periods in the suburb lifecycle. In the western areas of the City, the original settlers have passed on, resulting in a diversity of age groups. Areas such as Burwood East and Vermont South by contrast are expected to experience some renewal over the next 15-20 years. During the 1990s, a number of sites such as former schools and surplus government land were redeveloped for housing. In addition, education has become a major attractor of a more youthful, transient population, particularly in areas around tertiary institutions in Burwood and Box Hill. There is pressure for further residential development catering for existing residents of Whitehorse, residents of areas to the west (City of Boroondara) and overseas. Some loss of population to developing areas further east and south east can be expected to continue over the forecast period.

As described above, different areas within the City of Whitehorse have different functions based on both era of development and proximity to education and employment opportunities. Box Hill, Box Hill North, Box Hill South, Burwood, and to a lesser extent, Nunawading and Mitcham attract large numbers of young adults based on the location of tertiary education institutions and access to employment. Mont Albert, Mont Albert North and Surrey Hills are attractive areas for mature families, while areas in the east of the City such as Vermont, Vermont South and Burwood East are expected to experience a net migration loss in the early part of the forecast period as children leave home to establish new households elsewhere. The variety of function and role of the small areas in the City of Whitehorse means that population outcomes differ significantly across the LGA.

There are also significant differences in the supply of residential property within the LGA which will also have a major influence in structuring different population and household futures within the City over the next five to ten years. Box Hill is expected to experience the largest amount of new residential development over the forecast period, followed by Burwood East, Mitcham, Burwood, Forest Hill and Vermont South. This development will generally take the form of medium density development and development of former non-residential uses. By contrast, Blackburn South, Blackburn North, Surrey Hills and Vermont are not expected to add significant numbers of new dwellings over the forecast period.