Lake Bolac is in Ararat LGA, VIC, postcode 3351, with population 368.
The page has enough signal to be useful, but the story is mixed rather than decisive. Use compare mode to pressure-test it against stronger nearby options, then use the calculator if it still makes the shortlist.
Transport coverage adds a practical access signal.
Small local population makes the signal set more fragile.
Price series isn't recorded for this suburb. Census housing data is shown instead.
Official vacancy is published at the Regional Victoria level, not per suburb. Shaded band marks a balanced market (2.5–3.5%).
76% of homes here are owner-occupied and 14% rented, with 5% of landlords negatively geared.
76% owner-occupied — owner-occupiers hold longer and absorb rate shocks, supporting price stability.
ABS Census 2021 tenure (G37), ATO postcode rental statistics, and QuickProperty's investor-exposure index. Owner-occupied = owned outright + with a mortgage.
This suburb 32% · VIC median 17%
Nationally · lighter rent burden than 4% of AU suburbs
Owners with a mortgage repay a median of $980/mo, while renters pay about $1,690/mo — renting runs $710/mo higher on these medians.
At the median asking rent, about 51% of households here would spend more than 30% of income on rent (rent stress line: $1,300/wk income).
Getting to work: 61% drive, 0% public transport, 7% walk or cycle, 25% worked from home (2021 Census, taken during COVID-era work-from-home arrangements).
Building due diligence
The National Construction Code is the baseline. Local hazards and site classifications can change the required structure, materials, fixings, insulation and detailing.
About 95.9% of the suburb is within Victoria's mapped Bushfire Prone Area.
May affect: External construction · Roof and wall systems · Openings, screens and decks
About 0.0% of the suburb intersects VIC LSIO.
May affect: Floor levels and drainage · Water-resistant assemblies · Material durability
Confirm the NCC climate zone used for the building design and energy provisions.
May affect: Insulation and glazing · Condensation control · Roof-space ventilation
A suburb layer cannot determine the site wind classification or Bushfire Attack Level.
May affect: Structure and tie-downs · Cladding and fixings · Openings and bushfire detailing
Confirm marine or corrosive exposure and the applicable termite-management requirements.
May affect: Fasteners and connectors · Roofing and coatings · Termite management
This screen identifies investigation triggers, not building quality or property compliance. Confirm the address, design and current jurisdiction rules with the council, building surveyor or certifier, designer and engineer.
NCC 2022 Housing Provisions: how to use · NCC 2022 Volume Two and Housing Provisions
Share of the suburb within Victoria's gazetted Bushfire Prone Area (Vicmap, CC BY), point-sampled across the suburb. A Bushfire Prone Area is a planning designation that triggers the building code's bushfire construction provisions — it is not a graduated hazard rating or a property-level Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessment. Obtain a BAL assessment (AS 3959) for an individual property.
Estimated exposure to the official flood-hazard layer (VIC LSIO), point-sampled across the suburb. This shows how much of the suburb sits within mapped flood-planning areas — it is not a property-level flood certificate. Areas without a completed flood study may be unmapped. Check the local council's flood maps for an individual property.
Land-use mix estimated by point-sampling the suburb against Vicmap Planning scheme-zone polygons (CC BY 4.0). This is a suburb-level snapshot of planning zones, not a parcel-level zoning certificate or development advice. Check the relevant planning scheme for an individual property.
LGA-level official projection (Victoria in Future 2023, DTP). Indicative of the wider council area, not a suburb-level forecast.
ABS population projection (2022 base) for the Ararat Surrounds SA2 statistical area — the finest official projection grain available; suburb-level projections do not exist.
Located in Victoria within the Ararat local government area, Lake Bolac is a quiet locality (postcode 3351). With a population of 368, the suburb has a mature demographic with a median age of 48. Households earn a median income of $64K per year, with an average household size of 2.3 people. Recent annual estimates show population movement staying broadly stable across the broader catchment, with population growth running at +0.9% year-on-year at the LGA level. VIC employment has moved +0.8% year-on-year in the official ABS Labour Force trend series, which provides the broader jobs backdrop for this suburb. VIC also had 41 Commonwealth-backed major projects under construction, 18 underway, and 24 in planning as at 2025-09-01, which is useful as a broader delivery backdrop rather than a suburb-specific project count. The most common occupations are managers, labourers, technicians & trades. Employment in the area leans toward agriculture and education. The top ancestries reported are Australian, English, Scottish.
The current median weekly rent is $390. The median monthly mortgage repayment is $980.
Lake Bolac is served by 1 school, including 1 combined. The average ICSEA score is 936, which is below the national average of 1,000. Public transport access includes 5 bus stops. The crime rate in the Ararat LGA is higher than average at 13,198 incidents per 100,000 population.
Looking at the investment signals, Population growth of +0.9% year-on-year points to stable demand fundamentals. Building approvals have changed +0% year-on-year, indicating steady development activity.
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Lake Bolac carries enough direct local evidence for a first-pass decision.
QuickProperty mixes release files, Census baselines, and matched local services on this page. Read the status panel before treating every metric as equally fresh.
DataVic-discovered annual suburb price workbooks parsed into suburb prices. Quarterly VIC resources are discovered and cached, but not yet used as current-price anchors.
Use current rent as a starting signal, not as a fixed underwriting truth.
Schools, transport, and hospitals are useful as presence signals, but they still have different source cadences.
Lake Bolac is in the Ararat Local Government Area, VIC, postcode 3351. Council-level context for Ararat LGA (suburb mix, population, rent, and price coverage) is available on the QuickProperty LGA page.
The median weekly rent in Lake Bolac is $390/wk, based on the current market rent dataset. The current rent signal is rent context available.
Rent context available: Lake Bolac has usable rent context. Use this as a suburb screening signal before comparing candidates or modelling a purchase; the matching rent ranking can provide broader market context.
QuickProperty's investment signals for Lake Bolac show: Stable, Steady. These are computed from price, rent, income, and population data — not an opaque score.
Property prices come from state Valuers General offices and ABS Data by Region. Demographics are from ABS Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA. Crime statistics are from state police agencies. Transport data is sourced from GTFS feeds.
Property prices update quarterly. RBA macro indicators update with each deploy. Demographics are from Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA 2025.