Why it’s a crime not to research your property at Residz

What are the crime trends for the neighbourhood you live in, or want to buy into? Don’t know? Well, now's your chance to find out.

Residz Team 3 min read


What are the crime trends for your neighbourhood? Or, the neighbourhood you want to buy into? For example, how many assaults, drug offences, malicious damage to property incidents etc. have there been over the past decade? Don’t know? Well, Residz thinks it’s time you did, and we’re just the people to help.

Fun and interesting facts

First up, what is Residz? Residz is the first point of call for property research for buyers, sellers, and renters. At your fingertips are all sorts of fun and interesting facts about your address and 12 million other addresses in Australia. You don’t have to live at the property to access these helpful pieces of information.

And, one of those interesting pieces of info is the number of incidents of crime in any given area. We’ll look at that in this blog, but a Residz free property report includes much more, such as:

How crime affects you indirectly

Incidents of crime aren’t necessarily going to directly impact you, but they can affect everything from the value of your home (and your area’s investability score), your feeling of personal safety, the amount of healthy outdoor activity you do, the amount of insurance you pay, and the sense of community in your area. Most areas are affected by some crime, but high levels of serious crime or a rate of crime that appears to be trending higher over time could be cause for concern.  

How to check crime trends for your address

To see the incidents of crime trends in your own neighbourhood, simply type your address into the Residz research bar.


Once you have clicked on your property address, scroll down the information past your home’s  internet speeds, bushfire risk score, suburb information, and investability score - until you get to the Local Crime Trends. Here you will see the trend line from a decade of data for incidents such as assault, homicide, sexual offences, and theft. You can see how your area compares to the state average (see image below).

A rising trend in incidents of crime doesn’t always warrant concern. More incidents of crime in your area may reflect population growth, changing demographics, or changes in reporting practices (ie. an active Neighbourhood Watch scheme). Many of these changes are positive, not negative.

A falling rate of crime may also suggest gentrification of an area, which could improve local property values and the investability score of that area.

Opportunity for positive change

Knowing about the crime trends in your area can prompt you or your community to make simple, positive changes to improve safety. For example, asking council for better street lighting, organising community events, and picking up rubbish dumped around footpaths and in local parks.  Frankston City Council in a 2016 leaflet ‘Your rubbish, your responsibility’ writes that dumped rubbish had the potential to attract graffiti, antisocial behaviour and crime.

Discarded rubbish could also “reduce people’s perceived safety, compromise Frankston City’s welcoming image, and be costly for Council and ratepayers to manage” the leaflet said. This would be true for all areas in Australia.

Australian crime in 2020-21

Since the pandemic, offender rates have been falling. Overall, there were just under 360,000 offenders proceeded against by the police in 2020-2021. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says this is the lowest number since the time series began in 2008-2009. Around 29,000 of the offences were COVID-19 related. Illicit drug offences decreased for the fifth consecutive year.

First step, do your research

Buying property is all about location, location, location. It’s also about research, research, research. Residz is your best friend in property research and can save time and reduce stress for buyers and sellers. If you are considering purchasing or renting a house, make sure you download our free property report for that address.

Another feature from Residz is DreamPrice(™). Would you like to sell your home and connect with home buyers willing to pay your dream price? Residz has the solution, for zero dollars. Put a DreamPrice(™) on your home to test interest. Read about DreamPrice(™) here.

Image: South East Australian Responses; ACT Policing, Road Policing Holden Commodore SS on a traffic stop.