Forest Hill flood map & planning overlays

The schematic on this page is a Forest Hill flood map: the mapped flood overlays drawn over the suburb's terrain and street grid, covering about 2% of the suburb. Flood lines vary block to block, so for a specific property use the free interactive map - search any Forest Hill address and it shows the flood, zoning and bushfire mapping on the exact lot boundary.

About 2% of Forest Hill falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 4%. Flood overlays vary block to block, so whether a particular lot is affected needs a property-level check.

Bushfire mapping covers Forest Hill and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone (the Whitehorse average is 3%). Always confirm for the exact lot, as mapping can change.

The dominant planning zone in Forest Hill is General Residential Zone (GRZ1), though the suburb also includes Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ3) and Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ). Zoning sets what you can build and do on a site, and can differ lot by lot.

Forest Hill has 5 heritage-listed places on record. Heritage listing affects what you can alter or demolish, so confirm whether a specific property is listed or near a heritage place.

Across 5,178 surveyed parcels in Forest Hill, the median lot size is about 585 m². There are also 2,281 registered easements mapped in the suburb - an easement can restrict where you can build, so always check the title and overlays for the specific lot.

There is no train station inside Forest Hill itself. The suburb is served by 51 bus stops and 1 tram stop.

At the 2021 Census Forest Hill had 10,780 usual residents, with a median age of 42 and an average household size of 2.5 people. The wider Forest Hill statistical area, which contains Forest Hill, went from 9,976 people in 2001 to 11,256 in 2025, up 13%. ABS publishes no annual population series for individual suburbs, so that trend describes the surrounding area rather than Forest Hill alone.

On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Forest Hill scores 1036 and sits in decile 8 of 10 nationally and decile 8 within Victoria - decile 1 being the most disadvantaged tenth of Australian suburbs and decile 10 the least. The national average score is 1000. SEIFA summarises income, education, occupation and housing across the whole suburb, so it describes the area, not any particular household in it.

Median household income in Forest Hill was $1,658 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,941 for the typical suburb in Whitehorse. Median rent was $396 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,123 a month. These are 2021 Census figures and have not been indexed to today.

A Forest Hill planning report pulls every overlay - zoning, flood, bushfire, heritage, environmental and noise - that touches a single lot, on live council and state data. The interactive map preview is free; the full PDF report is $9.