Margaret River (postcode 6285) is the commercial and service hub of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, sitting approximately 277 kilometres south-south-west of Perth in the South West region of Western Australia. On the SEIFA Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage, the suburb records a raw score of 1004, four points above the national mean of 1000, placing it in decile 7 of 10 nationally and at the 60th percentile within Western Australia. That reading puts Margaret River in the advantaged band, reflecting a resident population with above-average income and educational attainment relative to the national distribution. The score is modest rather than exceptional, which is consistent with a regional town that blends professional households, tourism workers, and agricultural workers within the same postcode frame.
ABS 2021 IRSAD release. Score 1004 (national mean = 1000).
A SEIFA IRSAD score of 1004 in decile 7 tells PropertyRanker that Margaret River carries a mild positive signal across the three model criteria that draw on socio-economic data: economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk. The score is close enough to the national mean that it does not generate a strong positive or negative tilt on its own; it is a stabilising input rather than a differentiating one. Investors should understand what sits behind the number. Margaret River's economy is driven by wine production, tourism, and a growing permanent population seeking lifestyle relocation from Perth, all of which can support demand for residential property. However, the same tourism dependency introduces income seasonality and can push short-stay rental demand ahead of long-term rental demand, a dynamic that affects gross yield calculations and vacancy risk in ways that a SEIFA score cannot capture. The 60th state percentile position means roughly 40 percent of WA suburbs score higher, so the suburb is not in the top tier of socio-economic advantage within the state. For strategy matching, the regional distance from Perth and the lifestyle-driven demand profile make Margaret River most relevant to investors running a Capital Growth or Balanced strategy, where the gross-yield anchor sits around 3.5 to 5 percent. A High Yield or Regional strategy targeting 6 to 7 percent gross would require careful stock selection and verification of current vacancy rates, because the postcode contains a wide mix of property types, from coastal holiday lots in Prevelly and Gnarabup to standard residential lots in the town centre, and yield outcomes vary significantly across that mix.
Margaret River WA 6285 recorded a median house price of $1,000,000 with annual capital growth of 20.48% over the 12 months to April 2026, based on CoreLogic data published by yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au, with 169 house sales transacted over that period. propertyvalue.com.au (Cotality) reported a median of $950,000 with 26.7% annual growth and an average vendor discount of -3.7%, while HtAG Analytics noted a vacancy rate of 0.85% and inventory of just 2.34 months, both well below the balanced-market threshold, pointing to a tight, seller-favoured market.
All three signals point to a seller-favoured market: vacancy at 0.85% is sub-1% and tight, days on market average just 12 days, and vendor discounting is a slim -3.7%, consistent with vendors holding firm.
Sources: Margaret River WA 6285 Suburb Profile - Your Investment Property Mag (CoreLogic) (2026-04-30); Margaret River House Prices & Property Trends - propertyvalue.com.au (Cotality) (2026-01-01); Margaret River WA 6285 Property Market and House Prices 2026 - HtAG Analytics (2026-01-01) · Refreshed 14 Aug 2026
PropertyRanker scores any Australian property against 12 criteria across three pillars: Growth, Cashflow, and Risk. SEIFA is a primary signal for economic strength and a supporting one for entry-price risk. It also informs the crime side of hazard risk, though physical overlays like flood, bushfire and coastal exposure, and recorded crime data where available, take priority there. The decile of 7 shown above gives a listing in Margaret River a stronger starting line on economic strength than the national median postcode, and a softer one on entry-price risk, since more advantaged postcodes usually carry higher entry prices.
On top of that, PropertyRanker chooses one of four strategies (Balanced, Growth, Yield, Regional) and applies a per-strategy yield anchor. The anchors are 3.5% for Growth, 5% for Balanced, 6% for Yield, and 7% for Regional. A postcode at this level of relative advantage tends to suit the Growth (3.5% anchor) and Balanced (5% anchor) strategies more readily than Yield (6%) or Regional (7%), because a higher entry price compresses the gross yield a listing can reach without a specific value-add.
Read the scoring guide for the full criteria list and how the verdict thresholds work.
A SEIFA decile 7 reading is a useful macro filter, but it cannot see the variables that determine whether a specific listing is investment-grade. Before committing to any property in postcode 6285, investors should confirm the current SQM vacancy rate for the suburb and distinguish between long-term and short-stay rental demand, because the two markets behave differently here. For strata or unit stock, body corporate financials and any outstanding special levies warrant close inspection. The South West coast carries bushfire and flood overlay risk in parts of the postcode, so checking the relevant state planning overlays and insurance loadings for the specific lot is essential rather than optional. Pricing should be tested against recent comparable sales rather than list-price benchmarks, given the relatively thin transaction volume typical of a regional town. Run the specific listing through PropertyRanker to receive a verdict that accounts for current SQM vacancy, body corporate health, flood and overlay status, and pricing against recent comparable sales, all of which sit outside what a postcode-level SEIFA reading can tell you.
The data suggests a cautiously positive profile rather than a standout one. A SEIFA IRSAD raw score of 1004 places Margaret River just above the national mean and in decile 7 nationally, signalling an advantaged community with above-average income and educational attainment, but roughly 40 percent of WA suburbs score higher, so this is not a top-tier socio-economic location within the state. PropertyRanker treats the score as a stabilising input across three criteria (economic_strength, hazard_risk, and entry_point_risk), meaning it neither lifts nor drags the overall score materially. What the model cannot capture on its own is how the mix of wine-industry workers, tourism workers, and lifestyle relocators from Perth shapes actual rental demand, so scoring the specific listing is the necessary next step.
The data profile points most directly toward Capital Growth (gross-yield anchor around 3.5 percent) or Balanced (around 5 percent) strategies, given the regional distance from Perth and the lifestyle-driven demand that characterises the suburb. A High Yield or Regional strategy targeting 6 to 7 percent gross is not ruled out, but it demands careful stock selection because postcode 6285 contains everything from standard residential lots in the town centre to coastal holiday lots in nearby Prevelly and Gnarabup, and yield outcomes vary significantly across that mix. Investors running a higher-yield strategy should verify current vacancy rates against the specific dwelling type before drawing conclusions. Score the individual listing on PropertyRanker to see which strategy band the live data supports.
Tourism dependency is the most significant unscored risk: because the local economy leans heavily on wine tourism and seasonal visitors, short-stay rental demand can run ahead of long-term rental demand, introducing vacancy risk and income seasonality that do not appear in SEIFA figures. Bushfire exposure is a verified physical hazard for the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River; the Shire maintains an active bushfire mitigation and warning program, and a major fire event in 2011 burned tens of thousands of hectares in the region, confirming that this is a genuine recurring risk rather than a theoretical one. A third consideration is the absence of a passenger rail link to Perth: there is no train service to Margaret River, with the main public transport options being long-distance coach services operated by Transwa and South West Coachlines, which reinforces the suburb's car-dependent, regionally isolated character and ties demand closely to lifestyle preferences rather than commuter utility.
PropertyRanker feeds the SEIFA IRSAD reading into three of its twelve scoring criteria: economic_strength (which draws on the income and education profile embedded in the score), hazard_risk (where socio-economic position informs community resilience and recovery capacity), and entry_point_risk (where relative advantage or disadvantage shapes the likelihood of demand holding at a given price point). For Margaret River, the decile 7 reading and 60th state percentile position produce a mild positive tilt on all three criteria, but because the score sits close to the national mean of 1000, the effect is incremental rather than decisive. The remaining nine scoring criteria, including vacancy rate, rental yield, infrastructure access, and property-level attributes, are sourced from live data feeds and will vary from listing to listing within the postcode.
Yes, and this is a point the analysis flags explicitly. Postcode 6285 spans standard residential stock in the Margaret River town centre as well as coastal and semi-rural lots in localities such as Prevelly and Gnarabup, which carry different yield profiles, vacancy risk characteristics, and hazard exposures. A suburb-level SEIFA score of 1004 is an average across all these dwelling types and occupier profiles, so it can mask meaningful variation within the postcode. Investors should treat the suburb score as a first filter and then run a listing-level score on PropertyRanker to capture the specific dwelling type, location within the postcode, and current rental data before drawing any strategy conclusions.
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