Greater Bendigo is a fast-growing regional city anchored by health, education and manufacturing

Victoria is growing through its service industries, with a labour market near full employment

Before any region can be judged, the state it sits in sets the weather. Victoria's output is still expanding, the jobs market is tight by historical standards, and population growth remains the engine under housing demand.

Bendigo's economy is about $6.1 billion, the smaller of Victoria's big three regional cities

There is no official GDP below the state level, so gross regional product is a model. We label it as such and read it as a direction of travel. Bendigo is a substantial regional economy, though smaller than Geelong and Ballarat.

Health care leads the jobs base, with construction, retail and education close behind

A diversified jobs base is more resilient than one dominant employer. Here is the current mix across the broader Bendigo region's industries.

Bendigo's population is climbing toward 172,000 by 2046

Population is the slow, structural driver of housing demand. The current estimate is measured by the ABS; the forward path is a council forecast and is labelled as a model.

Unemployment is low at 4.1%, sitting below the state

Small-area unemployment is volatile, so it is read against the state. Bendigo has firmed a little over the year but remains below the Victorian rate.

Dwelling approvals average about 870 a year and have softened recently

Approvals are the leading edge of housing supply. They tell you whether the pipeline is keeping pace with the population story.

Bendigo's central suburb is a higher-yield, renter-heavy market that sells more slowly

Bendigo 3550 is the central locality of the city, a mix of heritage homes and CBD-edge living. Typical houses sit around $778,000 on a 3.39% yield. It scores 65 out of 100 overall, with a strong cashflow score of 84 but a more moderate lower-risk reading of 48. Renters make up about 45% of households, homes take about 48 days to sell, and vacancy is tight at 0.89%. Long-run growth is strong, up about 78% over the decade, with the cycle at a peak. Affordability is moderate at about 39 years to own.

An example property and how its cash flow stacks up

A real listing chosen by hand on realestate.com.au: 546 Hargreaves Street, Bendigo VIC 3550, a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car character home on 1,178 square metres, listed at $730,000 to $800,000. We model the midpoint, $765,000. The weekly rent is the suburb median. The cash flow runs on Alaya's model, with stamp duty and land tax auto-calculated for Victoria.

546 Hargreaves Street, Bendigo VIC 3550. Listing image.

Sources and methods, every figure tagged official or modelled

Nothing here is fabricated. Measured data carries an official tag; anything from a model is labelled deliberately. This is the running data register for the Greater Bendigo edition.

Method notes

• No official GDP exists below the state level, so gross regional product is always a model (economy.id and NIEIR), tagged accordingly.
• The industry mix uses the broader Victorian Skills Authority Bendigo region, wider than the Greater Bendigo local government area, flagged on the chart.
• The jobs-growth-by-industry chart from the Geelong edition is omitted here, because that breakdown was not available for Bendigo. It is left out rather than estimated.
• Property price is the midpoint of the listing asking range; weekly rent is the suburb median; stamp duty and land tax are exact VIC formulas; LMI is an 88% LVR estimate.