LaraVIC · suburb profile
VIC 3212 · Greater Geelong
Daily life in Lara is characterized by a strong community feel, with a high percentage of family households (77.0%). Commuting is primarily by car, with 61.4% of residents driving to work, while public transport usage is low at 2.8%. The suburb has a relatively high work-from-home rate of 18.0%, though this is below the Victorian average of 25.7%.
Sales · 12 months to August 2026
What property sold for in Lara
Houses · The median house in Lara went for $727,000 over the 12 months to August 2026, 17.9% below the Victorian median of $885,000. That is 5.4% up on the twelve months before, on 425 sales.
Half the houses sold fell in a narrow $658,000 to $777,000 band.
Houses
$727k
median of 425 sales
5.4% up on the previous twelve months.
Cheaper than 72% of the 426 suburbs we cover in Victoria.
Half sold between $658k and $777k.
Last sold within the past two weeks
Units
$494k
median of 14 sales
Too few sales to be reliable — treat as a rough guide
Half sold between $479k and $534k.
Last sold within the past month
Townhouses
$608k
median of 10 sales
Too few sales to be reliable — treat as a rough guide
Half sold between $595k and $661k.
Last sold within the past month
Land
$330k
median of 83 sales
Level with the previous twelve months.
Cheaper than 64% of the 42 suburbs we cover in Victoria.
Half sold between $295k and $388k.
Last sold within the past month
532 sales on record · data to 30 August 2026
Since 2022
How prices have moved
Houses · Since 2022, houses have climbed from $700,000 to $727,000 — 3.9% over the period.
- Houses
- Units
- Townhouses
- Land
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 | Units | Townhouses | Land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 · part year | $732k | $498k | $650k | $337k |
| 2025 · part year | $700k | $465k | $610k | $330k |
| 2024 | $678k | $372k | ||
| 2023 | $685k | $485k | $366k | |
| 2022 | $700k | $515k | $368k |
Quarter by quarter
| Quarter | Median | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q2 | $743k | 102 | +1.8% |
| 2026 Q1 | $730k | 117 | +2.4% |
| 2025 Q4 | $713k | 120 | +2.7% |
| Quarter | Median | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 | $480k | 5 |
| Quarter | Median | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 | $605k | 5 |
| Quarter | Median | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q2 | $418k | 14 | +31.9%low confidence14 sales this quarter, 32 the quarter before. Under 30 either side, the movement is mostly which homes happened to sell rather than the market moving. |
| 2026 Q1 | $317k | 32 | -4.2%low confidence32 sales this quarter, 26 the quarter before. Under 30 either side, the movement is mostly which homes happened to sell rather than the market moving. |
| 2025 Q4 | $331k | 26 |
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 Lara
Houses · The step from 3 to 4 bedrooms is the expensive one in Lara, worth about $87,000.
Houses
| Bedrooms | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $510k | 16 · few |
| 3 | $663k | 149 |
| 4 | $750k | 246 |
| 5 | $950k | 13 · few |
Units
| Bedrooms | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $490k | 11 · few |
Townhouses
| Bedrooms | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | $600k | 6 · 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.
3 schools · 2025 figures
Who goes to school in Lara
All schools · Lara's 3 schools teach 1,574 students, up 2.7% in ten years — and 5 government catchments cross the suburb.
Schools here
3
2 primary · 1 secondary
Students, all schools
1,574
2025 · +2.7% 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?”
+6.4%
916 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.
+10.9%
785 · 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 Lara have grown 2.7% over 10 years.
- Primary schools
- Secondary schools
Show data table
| Year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 760 | 773 |
| 2016 | 796 | 768 |
| 2017 | 805 | 744 |
| 2018 | 812 | 702 |
| 2019 | 846 | 630 |
| 2020 | 861 | 635 |
| 2021 | 882 | 646 |
| 2022 | 898 | 690 |
| 2023 | 910 | 665 |
| 2024 | 905 | 630 |
| 2025 | 916 | 658 |
Which schools in Lara 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
- Years 7–12
- 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 | Years 7–12 | Prep & ungraded | All students |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 643 | 773 | 117 | 1,533 |
| 2016 | 685 | 768 | 111 | 1,564 |
| 2017 | 696 | 744 | 109 | 1,549 |
| 2018 | 689 | 702 | 123 | 1,514 |
| 2019 | 710 | 630 | 136 | 1,476 |
| 2020 | 708 | 635 | 153 | 1,496 |
| 2021 | 745 | 646 | 137 | 1,528 |
| 2022 | 762 | 690 | 136 | 1,588 |
| 2023 | 779 | 665 | 131 | 1,575 |
| 2024 | 789 | 630 | 116 | 1,535 |
| 2025 | 785 | 658 | 131 | 1,574 |
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
All 3 schools in Lara
Ordered by size, not by results — 2 government, 1 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.
- VCE median
- The middle study score of that school’s Year 12 students, on a scale of 0–50. The state median in 2025 was 29.0, so a school above that sits above the middle and one below it sits below. The smaller number after it is how many students the figure rests on. Under 30 students we show nothing at all — a small cohort’s result swings from year to year on who happened to sit the exams, which is easily mistaken for the school changing.
| School | Sector | Type | Students | 5 yr | 10 yr | VCE median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lara Secondary College | Government | Secondary | 658 | +3.6% | −14.9% | 27 · 118 |
| St Anthony's School | Catholic | Primary | 477 | +9.4% | +31.8% | — |
| Lara Primary School | Government | Primary | 439 | +3.3% | +10.3% | — |
One school in Lara reported a median VCE study score of 27, against a state median of 29.
Government zoning
Which catchments cover Lara
5 government catchments cover Lara, so which one applies depends on the address, not the suburb.
| 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 |
|---|---|
| Lara Secondary College | Secondary |
| Northern Bay P-12 College | Secondary |
| Lara Lake Primary School | Primary |
| Lara Primary School | Primary |
| Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College | Other |
The read
What living here is actually like
Lara is a family-oriented suburb with a population of 19,017, characterized by a median age of 37, slightly younger than the Victorian average of 38. The suburb has a higher percentage of males (52.1%) compared to females (47.9%). Families are a significant part of the community, with 47.5% of households being couples with children and 36.2% being couples without children. The suburb has a strong owner-occupied housing market, with 76.1% of homes owned outright or with a mortgage, compared to the Victorian average of 68.3%.
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
Lara · 0–100
Show data table
| Buyer type | Score |
|---|---|
| Families | 85 |
| Retirees | 75 |
| First home buyers | 70 |
| Professionals | 65 |
| Investors | 60 |
Why families score highest
The signals doing the work
- High percentage of family households - 77.0%
- Above average household income - $1,969 weekly
- Predominantly separate houses - 89.5%
- Good availability of schools for children
Against the state
How Lara 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 |
|---|---|
| Apartments | 0.9% |
| Separate houses | 89.5% |
| Townhouses | 9.4% |
How people get to work
Method of travel, 2021 Census
Show data table
| Method | Share |
|---|---|
| Worked from home | 18% |
| Drove a car | 61.4% |
| Public transport | 2.8% |
| Walked only | 0.9% |
| Car passenger | 4.1% |
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 - median weekly income of $1,969 (vs VIC $1,759)
- High proportion of separate houses - 89.5% (vs VIC 73.4%)
- Low unemployment rate - 4.1% (vs VIC 5.0%)
- Strong family presence - 47.5% of households are couples with children
- High percentage of English spoken at home - 80.2%
Things to be aware of
- Lower percentage of residents with bachelor's degrees - 17.3% (vs VIC 29.2%)
- Limited public transport options - only 2.8% use public transport
- Higher percentage of residents with health conditions - 45.8% report having a condition
- Lower cultural diversity - 79.5% born in Australia (vs VIC 65.0%)
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 Lara?
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.