The Minieri family realised they were missing something when they moved to Mount Eliza after the pandemic hit. They relished being 200 metres from a beach. They enjoyed more space than they had at their old home in Brighton. Yet, they noticed most nearby properties had an extra feature: a pool.“We love going to the beach, but we love the idea of having a little private oasis at our property,” says father of two Domenic Minieri. “If we ever did want to sell, I think that is a prerequisite for a lot of buyers in this area.”So, the Minieris invested $220,000 in mid-2024 to redesign their backyard and install a pool, like so many of the neighbours. Mount Eliza, according to an AI-powered analysis of aerial imagery, has the most residential outdoor swimming pools of any Melbourne suburb.https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/modules/before-after-image-slider/index.html?resizable=true&v=640&configUrl=https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/hub/configs/before-after-image-slider/54615.json&v=0.21600514690576322; size: largehttps://thearticlestack.com/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=433&configUrl=https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/54608.json&v=0.0963277910051058; size: largeThe data sourced from Nearmap also reveals stark differences between postcodes. Wealthier suburbs in the city’s east have far more backyard bodies of water than western suburbs.The combined surface area of all 112,122 backyard pools detected in Melbourne would equate to a box that is 3.4 kilometres by one kilometre, stretching from North Melbourne to Abbotsford.https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=505&configUrl=https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/54610.json&v=0.46783343141800593; size: largeFurther analysis reveals the biggest pools are generally on the city’s north-east fringe. Yarrambat, Lower Plenty and Warrandyte are the top three suburbs for median pool size, according to machine learning that created data based on aerial imagery.Although artificial intelligence may have incorrectly identified some bodies of water – such as dams – as pools, this masthead’s Visual Stories Team has worked to verify the final pool counts and size calculations. All pools greater than 100 square metres were manually checked and about 200,000 records have been filtered through to remove those that deep-learning AI identified with less than 70 per cent confidence.https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=647&configUrl=https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/54609.json&v=0.3834777873122096; size: largeThe numbers suggest to architectural historian Professor Hannah Lewi that private pools have increased markedly over recent decades.Public pools – such as the Fitzroy Pool (built in 1907) and the Bondi Icebergs (built in 1931) – were once the main way Australians experienced outdoor pools, she says, before DIY backyard pools grew in the 1950s and ’60s.“America really led the way,” Lewi says. “In the suburbs – particularly of the West Coast of America in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s – [a backyard pool] was the aspiration, and that really helped shape Australia’s pool culture.”Technological advances – such as the creation of fibreglass pools – have also fuelled accessibility. “The ’70s and ’80s seem to be the first kind of growth period, and then it seems like we’re going through another one now,” Lewi says.https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=751&configUrl=https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/55215.json&v=0.5661820225859296; size: largeDevelopment approvals for pools surged to more than 16,000 across Australia amid the pandemic in 2021, according to data compiled by Cotality for the Swimming Pool and Spa Association.New builds have dropped back to around long-term averages now, but the association points out the data is incomplete and omits smaller builds not requiring council approval.Installers have told this masthead that demand has remained high after the pandemic kept people at home and encouraged investment in their private space. Innovation has led to easier maintenance, and “pool” was the most-searched keyword on domain.com.au last year.Smaller bodies of water – such as plunge pools, spas, and ice baths – have particularly surged in popularity following wellness trends on social media as space in Australian backyards becomes more limited.Despite solid growth, a heatmap of backyard pool density across Melbourne shows such amenities remain luxuries concentrated in historically rich areas.https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/2026/melbourne-pools/stage/assets/ai2html/melbourne-pools.html?resizable=true; size: large“You would expect that they might be clustered around wealthier suburbs and older suburbs that still have larger backyards and space for a pool,” Lewi says.“But it was interesting to see that density right near the coast as well. You might think intuitively that you’re near the beach, so you don’t need a pool, but obviously the two seem to be going together.”Landscape designer Steve Taylor, who has created award-winning backyards across Melbourne for more than 30 years, was not surprised a seaside suburb such as Mount Eliza had the most pools in the city.Taylor says the convenience of being able to swim a few steps from their bedroom spurred many to invest in a pool, even when the beach is nearby. But a pool’s aesthetic value was now a consideration too.“Any body of water gives a sense of calm, tranquillity and peace,” Taylor says. “So it’s not always about the swimming and the water sport. A pool can create and change the ambience of the living hub of the home.”Taylor estimates that up to 70 per cent of his landscaping projects now feature eye-catching pools – a figure that has climbed over the past decade.“They become focal points, and really the hub of the backyard,” he says. “Sometimes houses are designed around a swimming pool. That’s a real flip on design strategy, when pools can be valued that highly that it’s pool first, house second.”https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=980&configUrl=https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/54433.json&v=0.994329811865161; size: largeIn hotter areas like Queensland, pools are often designed for cooling off instead, Taylor says.However, Lewi says that a warming climate may now have encouraged more Melburnians to invest in them too.She also believes the popularity of backyard pools is part of a broader trend.“People are putting all the sorts of things they might do in the public realm – like gyms and saunas – into their private houses,” she says.“Partly, they might be wanting to add value to their house as an asset. So there’s a monetary factor, but it seems like this goes with … a retreat from public facilities, and maybe that was accelerated during COVID.“Public pools are still loved, but they have been closing for decades.”Domenic Minieri isn’t surprised that Mount Eliza – a larger “lifestyle” postcode on the well-heeled Mornington Peninsula – had the most pools of any suburb.“Just looking at Google Maps, it’s just a sea of blue little dots in every yard,” he says, suggesting that large, secluded blocks helped tennis courts proliferate, too.“I think a lot of the residents around here like to keep to themselves [and] have everything in one property. And that’s why we did it, to be honest,” he says.“Not that we’re homebodies by any stretch of the imagination. But having kids, I wanted them to be able to enjoy the yard and to have their friends over, and be able to have everything at home.“If another COVID experience ever did happen again, we are well suited to live a comfortable lifestyle.”https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/modules/about-the-data/?resizable=true&v=61&configUrl=https://thearticlestack.com/interactive/hub/configs/about-the-data/55279.json&v=0.3554500669562579; size: regular