At A$242 a week including all bills, a shared apartment at ECU Village Mount Lawley is one of the lowest entry prices we've found while comparing student accommodation in Perth with properties across Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth this month. Better still, the village is located directly on the Edith Cowan University Mount Lawley campus rather than simply being nearby. ECU confirms that the Mount Lawley village remains open until December 2026.
That combination is unusual enough to be worth examining properly: what does the low number actually buy, and what does it cost you that the headline rate doesn't show?
melbourne City properties
Find your perfect student accommodation
The full pricing picture
| Room type | Weekly rate | Status |
| Shared apartment (2-bed) | $242–$308 | Mixed availability |
| Studio apartment | $328 | Waitlist |
| 1-bedroom apartment | $398–$458* | Waitlist |
*The $458 figure is the total for two students sharing, not per person.
Rent, bills, furniture and Wi-Fi are all included in these rates. That's the part that makes the comparison honest — a $242 all-inclusive rate isn't comparable to a $242 private rental where power, water and internet arrive as separate bills on top.
One thing to note before you get attached to a number: the studio and 1-bedroom options are both listed as waitlist, and the shared apartments show mixed availability. The cheapest tier is also the most contested. If ECU Village is your plan, apply early rather than assuming a room will be there.
What "on campus" actually means here
The village is at 2 Stancliffe Street, Mount Lawley, WA 6050 — on the ECU Mount Lawley campus itself. In practical terms:
- Walk to class — you're already there. No commute, no transport cost, no timetable dependency.
- On-campus gym — about a 5-minute walk
- On-campus café — about a 5-minute walk
- Nearest supermarket — about a 20-minute walk
That last number is the one to sit with. A 20-minute walk each way for groceries is a real, recurring inconvenience — call it 40 minutes round trip, carrying bags, every week or two. It's manageable with a bike, a car, a delivery service, or by shopping in bulk, but it's the sort of thing people don't think about until they're doing it in the Perth summer.
The genuine savings, quantified
The reason the low rate compounds is that it removes costs beyond rent:
- No daily commute. Living on campus eliminates transport costs entirely for university trips — a real weekly saving on public transport, and more if you'd otherwise run a car for the commute.
- No separate utility bills. Electricity, water and internet are in the rate.
- No furniture purchase. Rooms and apartments come fully furnished, which is a meaningful upfront cost avoided if you're moving cities or countries.
- Gym on site, five minutes away, without a separate commercial membership.
Stack those against a private share house at a similar headline rent and the on-campus option is usually the cheaper one once everything's counted.
What's actually in the village
Facilities include a swimming pool, a games area, an outdoor basketball court, laundry facilities, 24/7 staff support and on-site security, plus a free events programme through the year.
The pool and basketball court are worth flagging specifically — they're not standard in student accommodation at this price point, and they're the sort of thing that makes a residential campus feel like somewhere you live rather than somewhere you sleep.
Who this suits
Strong fit if: you're studying at ECU Mount Lawley, you're on a genuinely tight budget, you're a first-year or international student who wants a built-in community, and you'd rather not manage utility accounts and furniture in a new city.
Weaker fit if: you're studying anywhere other than ECU Mount Lawley — the entire value proposition here is the zero commute, and it evaporates the moment your campus is somewhere else. It's also a weaker fit if you want inner-city Perth nightlife on your doorstep, or if a 20-minute supermarket walk without a car sounds like something you'll resent by week four.
Contract dates
Semester 2 runs 1 July to 1 December 2026. Free cancellation is available before move-in under specified conditions — check the exact terms with the village directly, since "specified conditions" is doing real work in that sentence and the details matter if your plans are still uncertain.
Wassup
Instagram??
Bottom line
If you're at ECU Mount Lawley, this is very likely the cheapest realistic way to live in Perth as a student, and the all-inclusive rate makes it cheaper still relative to its headline number. The trade-offs are honest ones: a supermarket that isn't close, limited availability on the cheapest rooms, and a location that only makes sense for one university's students.
Apply early. The $242 tier is the one everyone else is also looking at.