CockatooVIC · suburb profile
VIC 3781 · Cardinia
Daily life in Cockatoo is characterized by a strong sense of community and family life. The majority of residents commute by car, with 60.3% driving to work, while only 0.8% use public transport. The suburb has a relatively high percentage of people working from home at 18.7%, although this is below the Victorian average of 25.7%. The community is largely English-speaking, with 88.1% speaking only English at home.
Sales · 12 months to August 2026
What property sold for in Cockatoo
Houses · Across 62 sales, houses in Cockatoo reached a median of $850,000, 4% up year on year and just below the middle of the Victorian range.
Prices cluster tightly: half of all houses sold between $770,000 and $945,000.
Houses
$850k
median of 62 sales
4% up on the previous twelve months.
Cheaper than 54% of the 426 suburbs we cover in Victoria.
Half sold between $770k and $945k.
Last sold one to two months ago
62 sales on record · data to 30 August 2026
Since 2022
How prices have moved
Houses · Houses have added 10.4% since 2022, $770,000 to $850,000.
- Houses
Dashed lines and hollow points are part years — incomplete, so a dip may only mean fewer sales have happened yet. A break in a line is a year with no published figure, not a fall to zero.
| Year | Houses |
|---|---|
| 2026 · part year | $870k |
| 2025 · part year | $825k |
| 2024 | $738k |
| 2023 | $760k |
| 2022 | $770k |
Quarter by quarter
| Quarter | Median | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q2 | $898k | 10 | -0.2%low confidence10 sales this quarter, 17 the quarter before. Under 30 either side, the movement is mostly which homes happened to sell rather than the market moving. |
| 2026 Q1 | $900k | 17 | +10.4%low confidence17 sales this quarter, 23 the quarter before. Under 30 either side, the movement is mostly which homes happened to sell rather than the market moving. |
| 2025 Q4 | $815k | 23 |
A change is marked low confidence where either quarter had fewer than 30 sales. The medians are real; with a handful of sales the movement between them is mostly which homes happened to change hands, not the market moving.
Last 12 months
What an extra bedroom costs in Cockatoo
In Cockatoo, over the last 12 months, a three-bedroom house has a median of $800,000 from 35 sales, while a four-bedroom house has a median of $920,000 from 19 sales.
| Bedrooms | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | $800k | 35 |
| 4 | $920k | 19 · few |
Counts with fewer than five sales are left out rather than estimated, and bigger does not always mean dearer — a bedroom count with few sales can be pulled either way by the particular homes that happened to change hands.
1 school · 2025 figures
Who goes to school in Cockatoo
All schools · Cockatoo has a single school, with 306 students.
Schools here
1
1 primary
Students, all schools
306
2025 · +28.6% since 2015
At primary schoolsStudents at schools whose type is “Primary”. It excludes children in primary years at a Prep-to-12 college — they are counted in the tile beside this one. This number answers “are the primary schools here filling or emptying?”
+14.6%
306 students · five years
Children in primary yearsChildren in Years 1–6 at any school, including Prep-to-12 colleges. This answers “are there still young families here?” — a different question from the tile on the left, which is why the two can move in opposite directions.
Prep and ungraded students are counted separately again; see the chart below.
+19.3%
266 · Years 1–6, anywhere
11 years · two ways to read them
Enrolments, 2015–2025
The same students, counted two ways — by the kind of school they attend, and by the year they are in. They answer different questions and can point in different directions. Both views are in the page; the buttons only change which is visible.
Enrolments in Cockatoo have grown 28.6% over 10 years.
- Primary schools
Show data table
| Year | Primary schools |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 238 |
| 2016 | 247 |
| 2017 | 250 |
| 2018 | 246 |
| 2019 | 256 |
| 2020 | 267 |
| 2021 | 294 |
| 2022 | 297 |
| 2023 | 300 |
| 2024 | 306 |
| 2025 | 306 |
Which schools in Cockatoo are filling and which are emptying. A school that covers Prep to Year 12 is counted once, in its own line — its primary-age students are not in the primary schools line.
- Years 1–6
- Prep & ungradedTwo groups that sit outside the numbered year levels: Prep — the first year of school, which the national data does not number — and ungraded students at specialist schools, who are not placed in a year level at all.
A suburb with a specialist school will have a large line here.
Show data table
| Year | Years 1–6 | Prep & ungraded | All students |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 200 | 38 | 238 |
| 2016 | 208 | 39 | 247 |
| 2017 | 204 | 46 | 250 |
| 2018 | 215 | 31 | 246 |
| 2019 | 221 | 35 | 256 |
| 2020 | 223 | 44 | 267 |
| 2021 | 239 | 55 | 294 |
| 2022 | 258 | 39 | 297 |
| 2023 | 257 | 43 | 300 |
| 2024 | 264 | 42 | 306 |
| 2025 | 266 | 40 | 306 |
This counts children by the year they are in, not by the kind of school they attend — so a Prep-to-12 college contributes to every line. The three add up to every student in the suburb.
2025 · ACARA
The school in Cockatoo
Ordered by size, not by results — 1 government, 0 Catholic and 0 independent. Schools with more than one campus are counted once.
What these columns mean
- Type
- Prep-to-12 is one school a child can start and finish at without changing schools. Specialist schools also appear as Prep-to-12.
- 5 yr
- Change in enrolments against five years ago, not against last year. Enrolments move slowly, so a single year is mostly noise.
| School | Sector | Type | Students | 5 yr | 10 yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cockatoo Primary School | Government | Primary | 306 | +14.6% | +28.6% |
Government zoning
Which catchments cover Cockatoo
3 government catchments cover Cockatoo — 1 secondary and 2 primary — so which one applies depends on the address, not the suburb. The secondary catchment is Emerald Secondary College.
| CatchmentThe area around a government school where living there guarantees your child a place. Boundaries follow streets, not suburb lines, so an address near the edge of a suburb may be zoned elsewhere. They are redrawn each year. | Level |
|---|---|
| Emerald Secondary College | Secondary |
| Cockatoo Primary School | Primary |
| Macclesfield Primary School | Primary |
The read
What living here is actually like
Cockatoo is a family-oriented suburb with a total population of 4,406 and a median age of 36, which is slightly younger than the Victorian median of 38. The suburb has a balanced gender distribution with 50.7% males and 49.3% females. Families are a significant part of the community, with 51.9% of households being couples with children and 33.1% being couples without children. The area is predominantly Australian-born, with 79.2% of residents born in Australia, compared to the Victorian average of 65%.
Buyer fit
Who this suburb suits
One score per buyer type, out of 100, built from the demographic, housing and commute profile. Strongest first.
Buyer-fit score
Cockatoo · 0–100
Show data table
| Buyer type | Score |
|---|---|
| Families | 85 |
| First home buyers | 70 |
| Professionals | 65 |
| Retirees | 60 |
| Investors | 55 |
Why families score highest
The signals doing the work
- High percentage of family households - 79.3%
- Above average household income - $1,991 weekly
- Predominantly separate houses - 99.7%
- Strong community feel with family-oriented activities
Against the state
How Cockatoo differs from Victoria
Every bar is this suburb. The vertical tick is the Victorian figure — the gap between them is the story.
Housing & movement
What’s built here, and how people leave in the morning
Dwelling mix
Share of occupied private dwellings
Show data table
| Dwelling type | Share |
|---|---|
| Separate houses | 99.7% |
How people get to work
Method of travel, 2021 Census
Show data table
| Method | Share |
|---|---|
| Worked from home | 18.7% |
| Drove a car | 60.3% |
| Public transport | 0.8% |
| Walked only | 1% |
| Car passenger | 3.4% |
Costs 2021 Census
Census figures, collected in 2021. Rents and repayments have moved since — for what property is selling for now, see .
Top occupations
Share of the employed workforce
Key highlights
- Above average household income - $1,991 weekly (vs VIC $1,759)
- Low unemployment rate - 3.2% (vs VIC 5.0%)
- High percentage of separate houses - 99.7% (vs VIC 73.4%)
- Predominantly owner-occupied homes - 65.6% with mortgage
- Strong family presence - 79.3% family households
Things to be aware of
- Lower percentage of residents with higher education - 15.5% (vs VIC 29.2%)
- Limited public transport usage - 0.8%
- Lower diversity with 79.2% born in Australia (vs VIC 65%)
- Higher percentage of mental health conditions - 11.6%
- Limited rental market - 7.5% rented properties
Coming soon to this page
Where the richer profile lands
Schools & catchments
Zoned primary and secondary, NAPLAN bands, distances.
Transport & access
Stations, tram routes, drive time to the CBD, walkability.
Development activity
Permits approved, projects underway, zoning changes.
Want to dig into one address in Cockatoo?
A suburb page gets you this far. For a specific block you get what homes of that size sell for here, the schools that address is zoned to, any subdivisions proposed within 500 m, plus lot dimensions, easements, planning overlays and true sun aspect — free, no account.
X-Ray an address →Data sources
Demographic figures from the Census of Population and Housing © Australian Bureau of Statistics, used under Creative Commons Attribution.
Cadastral and boundary data contains information © State of Victoria (Vicmap), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Narrative summaries are AI-generated from the underlying data and may contain errors.
School details, enrolments and senior secondary results from the National Schools Data Collection © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
School catchment boundaries contain information © State of Victoria (Department of Education), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Base map © Mapbox © OpenStreetMap. Improve this map at openstreetmap.org/fixthemap.
Informational only — not financial, legal or planning advice. Verify zoning, overlays and catchments with the relevant council before relying on them. Data vintage: 2021 Census.