Southbank flood map & planning overlays

The schematic on this page is a Southbank flood map: the mapped flood overlays drawn over the suburb's terrain and street grid, covering about 60% of the suburb. Flood lines vary block to block, so for a specific property use the free interactive map - search any Southbank address and it shows the flood, zoning and bushfire mapping on the exact lot boundary.

About 60% of Southbank falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 22%. Flood overlays vary block to block, so whether a particular lot is affected needs a property-level check.

Bushfire mapping covers Southbank and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone. Always confirm for the exact lot, as mapping can change.

The dominant planning zone in Southbank is Capital City Zone (CCZ3), though the suburb also includes Transport Zone (TRZ2) and Capital City Zone (CCZ7). Zoning sets what you can build and do on a site, and can differ lot by lot.

Southbank has 94 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 31,140 surveyed parcels in Southbank, the median lot size is about 2,355 m². There are also 501 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 Southbank itself. The suburb is served by 11 bus stops and 25 tram stops.

At the 2021 Census Southbank had 22,631 usual residents, with a median age of 31 and an average household size of 1.8 people. The wider Southbank - East statistical area, which contains Southbank, went from 2,828 people in 2001 to 19,552 in 2025, up 591%. ABS publishes no annual population series for individual suburbs, so that trend describes the surrounding area rather than Southbank alone.

On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Southbank scores 1106 and sits in decile 10 of 10 nationally and decile 10 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 Southbank was $1,926 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,926 for the typical suburb in Melbourne. Median rent was $411 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,900 a month. These are 2021 Census figures and have not been indexed to today.

A Southbank 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.