Suburb of the Month, WANTIRNA, VIC 3152

Wantirna is a suburb in Melbourne, located 23 km east from the CBD. Its Local Government Area is the City of Knox. 

Wantirna is bounded by Dandenong Creek in the north and west of the suburb and Burwood Highway in the south. The area was one of the Knox district’s earliest cattle runs, with the Bushy Park run established in 1841. The suburb underwent significant residential development in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Major features in Wantirna include the Knox Private Hospital, Knox City Shopping Centre and Wantirna Mall Shopping Centre. Each Sunday, there is a "Trash and Treasure" (Flea) market in the suburb. There is also a SCOPE mental health facility, a Hungarian Community Centre, many churches scattered throughout the suburb and GoodLife Wantirna, the only GoodLife Health Club in Victoria with an indoor swimming pool. 

There are several parks and reserves located in the locale with a number having access to the bike track while others offer barbeque facilities, sports clubs and playgrounds for children.

There are a variety of schooling options in Wantirna including several preschools, Wantirna Primary School, Wantirna College, Wantirna Heights School, Regency Park Primary School, Templeton Primary School and St Lukes Primary School. There is also the Wantirna campus of Swinburne University of Technology TAFE, which offers courses ranging from apprenticeships to Advanced Diploma level in areas such as Business Commerce and Management, Engineering and Technology, Horticulture and Environment and Information and Communication Technologies. 

The EastLink tollway runs through Wantirna with interchanges at Boronia Road and Burwood Highway, connecting the suburb to the Melbourne and Frankston CBDs.

In the 2006 Census, the most common industries of employment for persons aged 15 years and over usually residing in Wantirna* were:

School Education - 4.9%

Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services- 3.9% 

Hospitals- 3.4% 

Supermarket and Grocery Stores- 2.9%

Building Installation Services- 1.9%

According to the 2006 Census, the population of Wantirna was 13,978. Of the population, 16.5 per cent were children aged between 0-14 years while 25.3 per cent were ages 55 years and over. The median age in the suburb is 38 years, compared with 37 years for persons in Australia.

	Houses	Units
Current median value	$524,500	$413,500
Current median rent	$370 p/w	$350 p/w
Average capital growth, 10 years	9.4% p.a	7.2% p.a
Average rent rate, 10 years	4.3% p.a	4.9% p.a
Average total returns	14.2% p.a	12.5% p.a