For decades, Clayton has grown alongside Monash University.
As the campus expanded into one of Australia’s largest, the streets surrounding it adapted too. Houses became share houses, apartments provided homes for students living alone or in pairs, and private developments emerged specifically to accommodate the university population.
Authorised G Rajapakshe | Monash Herald (Photographed By: Izy Rajapakshe)
Now Monash is expanding its own housing again, with a new 252-bed residence expected to be completed in 2027.
But outside the campus, the scale of Clayton’s student housing economy is already visible in the suburb’s numbers.
At the 2021 census, 60.7 per cent of Clayton’s occupied private dwellings were rented, compared with 28.5 per cent across Victoria.
More than one in five Clayton households were classified as group households, people living together who are not part of the same family. Across Victoria, the figure was just 4 per cent.
Not all are students. But the figures are striking for a suburb sitting beside a university campus associated with almost 60,000 students in 2025. Clayton itself recorded fewer than 19,000 residents at the 2021 census.
That population has created a housing market where sharing can make financial sense.
Authorised G Rajapakshe | Monash Herald (Photographed By: Izy Rajapakshe)
A standard room in Monash’s Clayton halls costs about $353 a week in 2026, with more expensive options available. In the private market, the median three-bedroom Clayton house rents for about $650 a week. Split between three tenants, that works out to roughly $217 each before bills. Four people sharing a median $793 four-bedroom property would pay about $198 each.
Apartments provide another option, with Clayton’s median unit rent sitting around $600 a week. Developers are also building specifically for the student market.
In 2025, the City of Monash approved a $20 million student accommodation development at 75 Beddoe Avenue and 1959-1963 Dandenong Road, capable of housing up to 253 students.
Source: City of Monash - Approved Development (75 Beddoe Ave & 1959-1963 Dandenong Rd, Clayton)
Source: City of Monash - City of Monash - Approved Development (75 Beddoe Ave & 1959-1963 Dandenong Rd, Clayton)
Combined with Monash’s new residence, the two developments could eventually accommodate more than 500 additional students around Clayton.
Then there are rooming houses.
The City of Monash says there are many registered rooming houses across the municipality, although publicly available figures do not show how many are concentrated in Clayton. Student share houses are also not necessarily classified as rooming houses, making the true size of the market difficult to establish.
Monash University is not the only force reshaping Clayton. Population growth, migration, planning decisions and Melbourne’s broader housing pressures have all played a part.
Authorised G Rajapakshe | Monash Herald (Photographed By: Izy Rajapakshe)
But few Melbourne suburbs have an institution of Monash’s scale sitting at their centre. The result is visible in the housing around it: more renters, unusually high levels of group living, a substantial apartment market and developments designed specifically for students.
The university may end at the campus gates, but its influence on Clayton’s housing market clearly does not.