What we found
- One address, every layer. Sales, rents, flood, bushfire, schools, transport and who lives there, about 17,000 figures.
- Australia has 368,287 blocks. They are the smallest areas the Census counts, and we call them microburbs.
- Nearly 15 million addresses sit inside one. So an answer can be about your block, not the whole suburb.
- Seven in ten blocks differ from the one next door. Of 251,653 blocks with 30 or more people, 72% have a neighbour of a different kind.
Our research: Australian property data, one address at a time
The story: what data can I get for an Australian address?
Give one address and the answer comes back in layers. Sales and rents. Flood and bushfire. Schools, transport, zoning and who lives nearby. In all there are about 17,000 figures across 174 requests, counted in October 2026, and they run from the house up through the block and the street to the suburb.
The point of the block is that it is small. Australia has 368,287 of them, and 14.95 million addresses are each placed inside one. A block near a home in Kambah, Canberra holds 37 homes. In the 2021 Census, 44.7% of them carried a mortgage, 26.6% were owned outright and 19.4% were rented.
It is cheap to ask. The free key answers for one sample suburb in every state and territory, with no sign up. After that it is one cent for an address, three cents for zoning and ten cents for a valuation, and the smallest top up is $25.
Who lives on my block?
Our reel: cross the road in Australia and a different kind of person often lives there.
Take Werribee, in Melbourne's west. Its 518 lived-on blocks hold 63,022 people and 19 of the 24 kinds of household we count. On one block it is young couples with children in new houses paying off a loan, many of them born in India or the Philippines, 214 people in all. On the next it is well paid 45 to 54 year olds in four bedroom homes, 116 people. On the next it is people over 75 living alone in a retirement village, 130 people.
Sydney does the same thing. One block in Kogarah holds 1,190 people, mostly under 35, renting in towers, and most of them born overseas. The block next door in Ramsgate holds 124 people in bigger households who own their homes, often of Lebanese, Chinese or Vietnamese background.
A block is usually about 100 people. Across the 276,156 blocks with people living in them, the middle block holds 93. The 24 kinds run from Australian-born families paying off a house, which covers 2.87 million people, down to young degree holders renting older flats with no car, which covers 220,000.
Which cities are mixed, and which are not?
We counted a block as mixed when at least one block it touches holds a different kind of household. Across Australia 72% of blocks are mixed, from 251,653 blocks with 30 or more people.
Of the big cities Brisbane mixes most, at 81% of its 23,024 blocks, and Sydney mixes least, at 58% of its 46,656. Perth is 74%, Melbourne 72% and Adelaide 70%. Canberra is higher than any of them at 82%.
A few suburbs are all one kind. In Box Hill, in Sydney's north west, all 78 blocks hold young couples with children in new houses paying off a loan, across 19,637 people. In Canley Heights, in Sydney's south west, all 107 blocks hold bigger households who own their homes, across 12,489 people. Among the 1,692 suburbs with more than 5,000 people, 19 are all one kind.
How is a block measured?
A block is the smallest area the Census counts. It is usually a group of streets holding about 100 people. Every address in the country is matched to the block it falls in, so a figure can be read for one patch of streets rather than a whole suburb.
The kinds of household come from the 2021 Census figures for each block, grouped into 24 kinds by how alike they are on age, income, housing and background. The population figures are our own estimate for 2026. The Census blurs the smallest counts on purpose to protect people, so a block with very few homes is read alongside its neighbours rather than on its own.
The research measured who lives in each block and whether the block beside it is different. It does not measure why people settle where they do, and it offers no cause either way.
How we made this reel
- We grouped every block by who lives there. The 2021 Census sorts the country into 24 kinds of household, block by block.
- Then we checked each block against its neighbours. Two blocks count as neighbours when they share at least 30 metres of boundary.
- Every figure in the film is one request. The layers all come from our own data service, one address at a time.
What it means for you
- The suburb average is not your street. Werribee, in Melbourne's west, holds 19 of the 24 kinds across 518 blocks.
- Walk the block before you buy. Who owns, who rents and who has retired can change at the next corner.
- Some suburbs really are all one kind. In Box Hill, in Sydney's north west, all 78 blocks hold the same kind of household.
Where to see it on Microburbs
- Microburbs, in every suburb report. The report splits a suburb into blocks and shows who lives in each one.
- Down to the address. A property report carries the figures for the block the home sits in.
See the blocks inside Kambah →
Also: Suburb, street or address, which one answers
Get the data
The data behind this reel, for any address, is live in our API. For one home in Kambah, Canberra it returned the blocks within 200 metres. The block the home sits in holds 37 homes, with 44.7% on a mortgage, 26.6% owned outright and 19.4% rented in the 2021 Census, read on 10 November 2026.
Try it now, free. This request is free for our sample suburbs and homes, one in each state and territory, with no sign up and no card:
curl "https://api.microburbs.com.au/v1/properties/GAACT714845944/surroundings/tenure" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer test"
What it sent back on 10 November 2026, cut to its first three blocks of 5:
{
"data": {
"gnaf_pid": "GAACT714845944",
"radius_m": 200,
"as_of": "2021-08-10",
"mbs": [
{
"mb": "80025270000",
"property_count": 37,
"owned_outright_pct": 26.6,
"mortgaged_pct": 44.7,
"rented_pct": 19.4,
"public_housing_pct": 4.3
},
{
"mb": "80025260000",
"property_count": 33,
"owned_outright_pct": 31.4,
"mortgaged_pct": 45.0,
"rented_pct": 18.7,
"public_housing_pct": 4.3
},
{
"mb": "80025280000",
"property_count": 22,
"owned_outright_pct": 32.2,
"mortgaged_pct": 42.2,
"rented_pct": 24.8,
"public_housing_pct": 5.3
}
]
}
}
See the full API docs for every request, the price of each and how to get a key for the rest of Australia.
Check any block in Australia
Every Microburbs suburb report splits the suburb into blocks and shows who lives in each one.
