Dianella, Perth High-Growth Inner-North, 7–9km from CBD

It depends on your strategy. Houses (~$970k–$1.02m median) offer land, prestige and long-term capital growth, especially 3–4 bedroom stock. Units & villas (~$600k median, with 3-bed strata around $700k) are where you’ll find ~5.1–5.52% yields and very tight vacancy. If you want equity growth and land, lean houses. If you want cashflow in an inner-north suburb, Dianella’s strata market is extremely compelling.

Because multiple levers are pulling in the same direction: inner-north location (6.8–9km from CBD), strong incomes (up to $1,684/week), high owner-occupancy (72.6%), and limited stock. Units have seen around +19.2–20.20% growth, and houses +14–16.87% in the last 12 months. Add in potential planning uplift via the City of Stirling’s ‘Better Suburbs’ review, and Dianella is attracting both owner-occupiers and sophisticated investors.

Not currently. Dianella functions as a car-first, bus-linked suburb. Most residents are comfortable driving 9–17 minutes off-peak (or 30–40 minutes in peak) into the CBD, or using bus feeders to Noranda and Mount Lawley stations. For buyers who insist on walking to rail, there are other options—but the growth and demand numbers suggest that inner-north proximity plus amenity is more important here than a local station.

For a house around $1,010,000, a 20% deposit is about $202,000 (best to avoid LMI). At 10%, you’re closer to $101,000 plus LMI. For a unit around $600,000, 20% is $120,000. You’ll also need to budget for WA stamp duty (which we estimate in the calculator), legal costs and some buffer for rising council and water charges. We’ll map this out in detail for you.

The current 15–20% growth rates are unlikely to be permanent—but that doesn’t mean the story is over. With high incomes, tight rental conditions, a major activity centre (Dianella Plaza), and potential R-code changes in the pipeline, Dianella still has strong medium-term drivers. Think of it as a high-growth, low-supply inner-north market that is now firmly “premium” vs its neighbours, rather than a speculative fringe suburb ripe for a crash.

Very. Houses are selling in around 13 days, and units in around 8 days, with minimal advertised stock relative to demand. The rental market is even tighter, with units leasing in ~15 days and very low numbers available at any one time. If you’re buying, pre-approval first, inspections second is the only realistic order of operations.

Briefly:

• Dianella: Higher median, higher recent growth, strong unit yields, high owner-occupancy.
• Yokine: Similar pricing, slightly lower recent growth (~9.4%), closer to some inner-city amenity.
• Morley: Cheaper (~$828k median), still growing, big retail hub, but a step down from Dianella’s current premium.
• Balcatta: More affordable (~$855k), solid growth, but doesn’t match Dianella’s combined growth + yield story.

In other words, Dianella is the premium inner-north play for buyers who can afford it and want both performance and flexibility.

The nuance is important. Overall stealing rates sit in the lower half compared with Perth, but Dianella ranks very high (Top 1%) for selected offences against the person. In an affluent, high-value suburb, that can reflect more serious, targeted incidents rather than random petty crime. The practical takeaway is to treat security as part of your purchase cost: alarms, lighting, secure parking, and sensible personal safety measures. We’ll help you factor realistic insurance and security into your borrowing capacity.

The City of Stirling has adopted a 4.5% average residential rates increase (around $59 per property on average), and Water Corporation charges (service + usage) are set to rise by around 2.5%. In isolation, these aren’t deal-breakers—but for investors, they make Dianella’s stronger rental yields (especially on units) even more important. We’ll model these statutory cost increases into your numbers so you’re not caught short.