Three-bedroom houses set the pattern
Three bedrooms is where Stawell stands out: 54% of homes have three, above 42% across Victoria. Homes with four or more bedrooms make up 22%, below the state's 33%, and those with two bedrooms or fewer 22%, below 25%.
In the town of Stawell, 90% of occupied homes are separate houses, above 73% across Victoria, while flats or apartments make up 6%, below the state's 12%. On Census night, 11% of private dwellings were unoccupied, the same as the 11% statewide.
Lower costs, and homes held outright
Housing costs in Stawell sit below the state on both counts. The median mortgage repayment is $953 a month, against $1,859 across Victoria, and the median rent is $214 a week, against $370. Median household income is lower too, at $1,089 a week compared with the state's $1,759. The figures suggest lower housing costs and lower incomes alike.
Worked out on this page from those two medians, the weekly rent equals 20% of the median weekly income of all households in Stawell, renters or not. The same comparison gives 21% for Victoria, so on this measure the town of Stawell sits below the state, with its rent and its income both below Victoria's figures.
44% of households own their home outright, above 32% across the state, while 27% are paying off a mortgage, below 36%. Renting accounts for 26% of households, below the state's 29%, and 56% of those renting households rent from a landlord the ABS records as a real estate agent, below 73% statewide.
An older town of smaller households
At the 2021 Census, 5,627 people lived in the town of Stawell. The median age was 48 years, above 38 across Victoria, which suggests an older population than the state's. Households are smaller, with 2.1 people in an average household against 2.5 statewide, which suggests fewer people sharing each home.
One 2021 question asked where each person lived in 2016. Among people aged five and over in Stawell, 58% lived at the same address five years earlier, above the 54% across Victoria.