Kingston
Kingston grew its population 121.2% over the past decade, an explosive expansion that explains most of its character today. The suburb packs 6,579 residents into 1.4 km2 at a density of 4,686 per km2, and 90.5% of dwellings are apartments rather than houses. Household income sits in the 91.9th percentile nationally, and 64.3% of adults hold a university qualification, 34.2 points above the national figure. The median age of 35 runs 5 years below national, reflecting the young professional renters drawn by Public Administration jobs, which employ 48.9% of the local workforce. An 11.4% vacancy rate is the cost of building so many apartments so fast.
Population
6,579
Median Age
35.0
Household IncomeiMedian weekly household income (ABS Census)
$2,469/wk
DAs (12 months)iDevelopment Applications lodged in the past year
5
Median House
$642K
Estimated from rent (2025)
The median house price of $642,000 looks modest for a 91.9th-percentile income area, but the figure is misleading because separate houses are only 3.0% of the stock. Buyers here are almost always purchasing apartments, since 90.5% of dwellings are units and 53.4% have just two bedrooms. With monthly mortgage repayments averaging $1,950, the mortgage-to-income ratio is a comfortable 18.2%, well below the 30% stress threshold and lower than most Sydney or Melbourne markets. Owner-occupiers are the minority at 48.7% combined, split between 17.7% who own outright and 31.0% with a mortgage. The trade-off for affordability is scarcity of family-sized homes: only 1.9% of dwellings have four or more bedrooms, so buyers wanting space must look beyond Kingston.
For Buyers
The median house price of $642,000 looks modest for a 91.9th-percentile income area, but the figure is misleading because separate houses are only 3.0% of the stock. Buyers here are almost always purchasing apartments, since 90.5% of dwellings are units and 53.4% have just two bedrooms. With monthly mortgage repayments averaging $1,950, the mortgage-to-income ratio is a comfortable 18.2%, well below the 30% stress threshold and lower than most Sydney or Melbourne markets. Owner-occupiers are the minority at 48.7% combined, split between 17.7% who own outright and 31.0% with a mortgage. The trade-off for affordability is scarcity of family-sized homes: only 1.9% of dwellings have four or more bedrooms, so buyers wanting space must look beyond Kingston.
For Investors
A 51.4% renter share gives landlords the deepest possible tenant pool, and weekly rent of $510 against the $642,000 median implies a gross yield near 4.1%, healthy compared with premium inner-city suburbs. Rent grew 13.3% over the measured period, supporting income returns. The caution sign is the 11.4% vacancy rate, well above a balanced market, because the 121.2% decade population surge came with heavy apartment construction that briefly outpaced demand. Net overseas migration of 121 residents a year is the primary growth driver and keeps absorbing supply. With only 5 development applications lodged in the past 12 months, the building wave has slowed, which should let vacancy tighten as the forecast adds roughly 285 people annually.
Development Activity
Total DAs
29
Last 12 Months
5
YoY ChangeiYear-over-year change in DA lodgements
0.0%
Avg DA CostiAverage estimated cost per DA in the past year
N/A
Monthly DA Lodgements
DA Categories
Demographics
The median age of 35 is 5.0 years below the national figure, and the average household size of 1.8 sits 0.7 below national, both pointing to a young, single-or-couple renter base rather than families. Couples without children make up 54.7% of families (2,026 households) against just 964 couples with children, which is why two-bedroom apartments dominate the stock. University qualifications reach 64.3%, fully 34.2 points above national, among the highest concentrations in the country. Overseas-born residents are 26.9%, which is 5.3 points above national. Ancestry leans Anglo-Celtic, led by English (2,335), Irish (997) and Scottish (835), while the top non-English languages are Mandarin (48 speakers) and French (43), a modest international mix.
Age Distribution
Bedrooms
Dwelling Structure
3.0%
Houses
6.4%
Townhouse
90.5%
Apartment
Tenure
Tenure is renter-led: 51.4% rent, 31.0% carry a mortgage and only 17.7% own outright, the inverse of most established suburbs and a direct result of the apartment-heavy build-out. Separate houses are just 3.0% of dwellings while apartments are 90.5% and semi-detached homes 6.4%. Two-bedroom units lead at 53.4%, with 25.0% one-bedroom or studio and only 1.9% at four-plus bedrooms. The median house price is $642,000, and both housing-cost ratios are low: mortgage-to-income at 18.2% and rent-to-income at 20.7%, neither flagged for stress. That affordability, unusual for a 91.9th-percentile income suburb, exists because the dominant product is compact apartments rather than detached houses competing on scarce land.
Mortgage / mo
$1,950
Rent / wk
$510
HH Size
1.8
Personal Income / wk
$1,777
Vacancy Ratei% of dwellings unoccupied on Census night (ABS 2021)
11.4%
Unoccupied
425
Rent / IncomeiMedian rent as % of household income. Over 30% = housing stress
20.7%
Mortgage / IncomeiMedian mortgage as % of household income. Over 30% = housing stress
18.2%
Community Profile
Languages Spoken at Home
Ancestry
Household Composition
54.7%
Couples, no children
3,704
Total families
Economy & Employment
The local economy is built on government: Public Administration employs 48.9% of workers (1,889 people), nearly half the workforce, with Professional/Tech next at 15.3% (589), Healthcare at 8.1% (311) and Education at 7.6% (295). By occupation, Professionals (1,993) and Managers (1,112) dominate, consistent with the decile 10 IEO score for education and occupation. Unemployment is very low at 2.4% and the full-time employment rate reaches 81.7%, both stronger than national. The one SEIFA anomaly is the IER score at decile 5 against decile 10 on the other three indexes, because the 51.4% renter base depresses the household-wealth measure even though incomes sit in the 91.9th percentile.
Unemployment
0.7%
Labour Force
5,637
Unemployed
42
Quarterly Trend
Source: SALM Dec-25
Socio-Economic Indexes (SEIFA)iABS index ranking suburbs from 1 (most disadvantaged) to 10 (most advantaged)
Full-time
81.7%
Part-time
15.9%
Participation
71.6%
Employed
4,202
Occupations
Top Industries
University
64.3%
Postgraduate
25.5%
Born Overseas
26.9%
Dwellings
3,291
Transport to Work
Kingston is built for low-car living: 21.1% of residents walk or cycle to work and 8.4% use public transport, while 64.4% drive, below the national reliance on cars and reflecting the dense 4,686-per-km2 layout near the lake and city. The suburb scores decile 10 on IRSAD, the top advantage tier nationally, and decile 10 on IRSD for relative disadvantage, so very few residents face deprivation. Only 1.9% (111 people) need daily assistance, and volunteering runs at 21.4%. No schools sit inside the compact 1.4 km2 boundary, so families with children, a minority at 964 households, rely on schools in neighbouring suburbs, a practical trade-off for the apartment-dense setting.
Drive
64.4%
Public Transport
8.4%
Walk / Cycle
21.1%
Work from Home
N/A
Population Forecast
+3.81%/yr
(+285 people/yr)
EstablishedKingston is one of Canberra's fastest-growing suburbs, with population up 121.2% over the decade and a forecast annual growth rate of 3.81%, or about 285 people a year. Medium projections lift the population from 7,939 in 2026 to 9,366 by 2031, an 18% gain in five years. Overseas migration of 121 residents annually is the primary driver, with net internal migration adding another 55. The trajectory is aging in relative terms, the senior share rose 3.8 points and the working-age share fell 4.3 points, yet the median age of 35 stays well below national. Affordability actually improved, with the cost ratio easing from 32.6% in 2011 to 28.7% in 2021 even as rents climbed 13.3%.
Historical + Forecast
Hamilton-Perry + Holt smoothing on ERP 2001-2025
Age Cohort Forecast
Primary Driver
Overseas Migration
Net Overseas / yr
+121
Net Internal / yr
+55
Gentrification Signal
New development
National Ranking iPercentile rank among ~15,000 AU suburbs. 90% = higher than 90% of suburbs
How Kingston compares to ~15,000 Australian suburbs
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kingston a good suburb to live in?
Kingston scores decile 10 on IRSAD and IRSD, the top advantage tier nationally, with household income in the 91.9th percentile and university qualifications at 64.3%, 34.2 points above national. It suits young professionals: the median age is 35 and 51.4% rent. Families face a trade-off, since only 1.9% of homes have four or more bedrooms.
What is the median house price in Kingston?
The median house price is $642,000, modest for a 91.9th-percentile income area because 90.5% of dwellings are apartments and only 3.0% are separate houses. Weekly rent averages $510 and monthly mortgage repayments run about $1,950, giving a low mortgage-to-income ratio of 18.2%.
What schools are in Kingston?
No schools are recorded inside the compact 1.4 km2 Kingston boundary in this dataset, so families rely on schools in neighbouring suburbs. The resident base is highly educated, with university qualifications at 64.3%, which is 34.2 points above the national figure.
Is Kingston safe?
Detailed crime statistics are not available for Kingston in this dataset. As an indirect indicator, the suburb scores decile 10 on the IRSD index of relative disadvantage, the highest tier, and only 1.9% of its 6,579 residents need daily assistance, both consistent with a low-disadvantage area.
Is Kingston good for property investment?
Rent of $510 a week against the $642,000 median gives a gross yield near 4.1%, healthy for an inner-city area, and the 51.4% renter share is a deep tenant pool. The 11.4% vacancy rate is the main risk, though net overseas migration of 121 a year and forecast growth of 285 people annually should absorb supply.
How is Kingston's population changing?
Kingston's population grew 121.2% over the decade and is forecast to rise 3.81% a year, about 285 people, from 7,939 in 2026 to 9,366 by 2031. Net overseas migration of 121 residents annually is the main driver, with internal migration adding 55. The median age of 35 stays 5 years below national.
How to read these comparisons
Phrases like "above the national average" reference the unweighted median across Australian suburbs with more than 1,000 residents, not population-weighted national figures. Suburb-level medians are more useful for ranking suburbs against each other; ABS census headlines are population-weighted (so dominated by Sydney and Melbourne) and can read very differently.
Current baseline (refreshed 2026-05-10): median age 40, university-educated 30.1%, born overseas 21.6%, average household size 2.5 people.
Data sources: ABS 2021 Census (demographics, income, tenure), state Valuer-General (house prices), Department of Jobs SALM (unemployment), ACARA (school ICSEA), state Crime Statistics agencies (offences), council DA portals (development applications). Population forecasts use a Hamilton-Perry cohort model calibrated to ABS ERP.
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