Trish Sethi and Gaurav Sharma, who have a 19-month-old daughter Anairaa, are among the many Victorian families who have faced rising mortgage and interest rates over the past few years. Photos: Ian Currie/Provided.
Areas of Melbourne where home loan repayment rates have grown at least over the past decade include both the outer city and inner suburbs.
A new study from online financial comparison service Compare Market shows the $427,000 federal loan in 2015 rising to $647,000 by 2025, despite the same interest rates in both timelines.
Compare Market analysis of PropTrack data revealed that across Greater Melbourne, Cranbourne South had the lowest increase in annual mortgage repayments over the decade.
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Melbourne’s south east recorded an increase of $2797, based on a median house price of $799,500 in 2025.
Next was Carlton at $7332 with a median of $1.379m and Strathtulloh, near Melton, at $11,140 with a median of $630,00.
Payments are based on a 30-year loan with interest, assuming a 20% deposit.
Market Compare cautions that their report should not be relied upon as a substitute for proper professional advice.
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Greater Melbourne’s median house price has risen from $700,000 in 2015 to $1.012m in 2025. Photo: Nicole Garmston.
Rounding out the top five areas were Braybrook with an annual loan increase cost of $11,687 and Maribyrnong at $12,266.
Braybrook’s average house price is $760,000 and Maribyrnong’s is $1,021,500m.
Maidstone, Longwarry, Harkness, Laverton and Westmeadows were next on the list with average annual walks ranging from $12,818 to $13,803.
This Braybrook home sold for $750,000 in 2025. The median house price in the suburbs is $760,000.
Braybrook and Maribyrnong are both north-west of Melbourne, near Maidstone with a median house price of $835,000.
Longwarry, with a median house price of $572,500, is a town 83 kilometers south-east of Melbourne’s CBD.
Harkness has a median of $575,000 in the western suburbs and Laverton a median of $610,000 in the western suburbs, near Altona.
About 3km from Broadmeadows in the northern suburbs is Westmeadows with an average house price of $701,250.
In comparison, the median house price in Greater Melbourne has increased from $700,000 in 2015 to $1.012m in 2025.
Trish Sethi and Gaurav Sharma, with 19-month-old daughter Anairaa, at their home in Melbourne’s west. Photo: Ian Currie.
A family from the outer west of Melbourne, husband and wife Trish Sethi and Gaurav Sharma with a 19-month-old daughter named Anairaa, made a tough call as they struggled to cope with rising mortgages and interest rates in recent years.
In 2025, the couple sold their investment property due to the burden of paying off two mortgages.
Ms. Sethi said it was a sad event but they felt it was the right thing to do as the cost of living increased.
“It was difficult to keep up,” said Ms. Sethi
“And wages are not going up – wages are the same, but everything else is going up.”
Interest rates have risen significantly across Australia since the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.
They are listing their three-bedroom investment property, also in Melbourne’s west, with Ray White Truganina’s Prerak Bist.
Ms Sethi and Mr Sharma bought the house they live in in 2020, and Mr Sharma started his own Truganina-based transport and logistics business, Tag Xpress, two months ago.
To reduce daily expenses, they buy groceries separately or in bulk, have limited online shopping and budget for food and travel.
“I have never done that before but now that there is a child and the cost of living is increasing, I think that just saves us some money,” said Ms. Sethi.
In Maribyrnong, this four-bedroom house changed hands for $1.051m last year. The suburb has a median house price of $1,021,500m.
As a homeowner, he welcomed rising property prices but said he was also concerned about affordability as he contemplated Anairaa’s future.
However, the couple who moved to Australia as students said they are grateful to live in a nation where they can afford to buy a house as adults.
“I don’t think I can own a house in my thirties when I return to Mumbai,” said Ms. Sethi.
She and her husband hope to upgrade to a larger home in the future and are open to purchasing another investment property, depending on how the market performs.
In December, the median price of Melbourne units reached an average price of $630,000, PropTrack data shows. This includes apartments, units and townhouses. Photo: Jake Nowakowski.
Mr Bist said many investors in Victoria were selling as mortgages and land tax became more expensive, although many investors were coming from their own areas to take up their properties.
He said only a handful of homeowners in nearby Truganina and Tarneit, which is west of Melbourne, had put their homes on the market because they were struggling with their mortgages.
“Because the house is something important to them, they don’t want to finish it, instead they reduce other expenses,” he said.
Compare Market property expert Andrew Winter says home buyers should shop around for the best mortgage rates. Photo: Luke Marsden.
According to PropTrack, Tarneit has a median house price of $665,000 and Truganina $670,344.
Mr Bist said both Truganina and Tarneit attracted many families and young couples.
“It’s a very good place because the schools are good and so are the parks,” he added.
“It feels like more of a community when there are more owners living in the area.”
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