Indi turns up in student accommodation searches because UniLodge markets it there, listing Indi Southbank and Indi Footscray under Melbourne student accommodation and Indi Sydney under Sydney. That placement is misleading in one specific and expensive way: Indi is not purpose-built student accommodation. It is build-to-rent — institutionally owned apartment blocks let on ordinary residential tenancy agreements, to anyone who qualifies, students included.
The practical consequences are all in the fine print. Indi's own FAQ puts the shortest lease at six months, not a 43 or 51-week academic contract. The bond is four weeks' rent, lodged with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority in Victoria or NSW Fair Trading in New South Wales. Utilities are individually metered and billed to you: water, electricity, and your own internet contract. None of that resembles the all-inclusive weekly rate you get at Scape or a conventional UniLodge building.
What you get in exchange is a real apartment — 68 square metres for a one-bedroom at Indi Sydney, not an 18 square metre studio — professional on-site management, pets allowed subject to approval, and the right to hang art on the wall. Whether that is a better deal than purpose-built student accommodation depends entirely on how long you are staying and whether you can absorb a variable bill.
Quick facts: the three Indi buildings
| * | Indi Southbank | Indi Footscray | Indi Sydney |
| Address | 132 Kavanagh Street, Southbank VIC 3006 | 3-7 McNab Avenue, Footscray VIC 3011 | 298 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000 |
| Size | 434 apartments, one tower | 702 apartments across three buildings | 234 apartments |
| Nearest campuses | University of Melbourne Southbank campus (walk); Parkville and RMIT by tram | Victoria University Footscray Park, about 4 minutes' walk; RMIT and Parkville by train | UTS, University of Sydney, UNSW and Notre Dame, all quoted within 10 minutes |
| Apartment types | Studio, 1-bed, 2-bed | Studio, 1-bed, 2-bed, 3-bed | 1-bed, 2-bed, 3-bed |
| Indicative weekly rent | Studio from about $665; 1-bed about $695-$815; 2-bed about $845-$975 | Studio from about $520; 1-bed about $660-$700; 2-bed about $710-$745 | 1-bed advertised at about $1,189 (68 sqm); 2-bed furnished at about $1,599 (82 sqm) |
| Parking | On site, additional fee | On site, limited, additional fee, EV charging | None on site |
| Minimum lease | 6 months | 6 months | 6 months |
| Bills | Metered separately, not included | Metered separately, not included | Metered separately, not included |
Rents above are drawn from live and recent Domain listings for each building in early September 2026. They are what specific apartments were advertised at, not a fixed price list, and they move with availability.
Where each building actually sits
Indi Southbank is at 132 Kavanagh Street, a 43-level tower in the Arts Precinct. The University of Melbourne's Southbank campus — the VCA, the Conservatorium, the design and fine arts schools — is a walk away, which makes this the single most convenient private building in Melbourne for a music or performing arts student. Parkville is a tram ride, not a walk: budget 20 to 25 minutes door to door on a Route 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64 or 67 tram up St Kilda Road, and note that Southbank sits outside the Free Tram Zone, so you pay for it. Woolworths is across the road and South Melbourne Market is walkable. If you are choosing between here and the north side, our guide to student housing near the University of Melbourne sets out the Parkville alternatives.
Indi Footscray at 3-7 McNab Avenue is the outlier in the group and, for most students, the interesting one. Victoria University's Footscray Park campus is roughly a four-minute walk. Footscray Station is about 150 metres away, which puts Southern Cross and the CBD roughly ten minutes off and RMIT City or Parkville comfortably within half an hour. Hopkins Street and Barkly Street carry the food, and Footscray Market is the cheapest fresh produce within reach of any of these three buildings. Rents here run roughly $150 a week below Southbank for the equivalent apartment. If VU is your university, read that alongside living near Victoria University St Albans before you commit to the inner west.
Indi Sydney at 298 Pitt Street is a CBD tower with the Gadigal metro station beneath it and Town Hall two minutes' walk away. UTS is a short walk or one stop; USYD and UNSW are bus or light rail rides that UniLodge compresses into "within 10 minutes", which is optimistic for UNSW Kensington at peak hour — allow 30 minutes on the L2 or L3. There is no on-site parking at all, which is normal for that block of Pitt Street and worth knowing before you ship a car interstate.
Apartment types and what the "from" price refers to
Indi does not publish a rate card. Every price you see for these buildings, including ours, comes from individual listings, so treat the low number as the cheapest apartment that happened to be vacant, usually on a low floor with the least appealing aspect.
At Southbank the ladder runs studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom. A studio was recently listed at $665 a week and one-bedrooms spanned $695 to $815 — a $120 spread within the same apartment type, driven almost entirely by floor level and outlook. Two-bedrooms ran $845 to $975, which works out at $423 to $488 each if you share with someone. That per-person figure is the number to compare against a Southbank studio, and it is the only configuration here that gets close to PBSA pricing.
Footscray is the same shape at a lower altitude: a studio at $520, one-bedrooms $660 to $700, two-bedrooms $710 to $745. Split a two-bedroom at Footscray and you are at roughly $355 to $373 a week each for a full apartment with a balcony and a European laundry. Footscray also runs three-bedroom apartments, which are rare in this market and worth chasing if you have a group.
Sydney has no studios. The entry point is a one-bedroom at around $1,189 a week for 68 square metres, with two-bedrooms at about $1,599 with a furniture package included. Split two ways that is roughly $800 each, which is well beyond what a Sydney PBSA studio costs. Indi Sydney is a young-professional building that accepts students, and its pricing says so plainly.
One more thing on configuration: unlike PBSA, an Indi one-bedroom is a self-contained apartment, not a bedroom off a corridor. If you are still working out the vocabulary, an Indi studio and a PBSA studio are not the same object: the first is a lease on a dwelling, the second is usually a licence to occupy a room.
What the rent includes — and what it does not
This is where the comparison against student accommodation breaks down entirely.
Included in the apartment as standard: a full-size oven, induction cooktop, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine and clothes dryer inside your own apartment, ducted air conditioning, built-in storage, and a balcony in many units. Access to the building's amenity is included in the rent. Southbank and Footscray hand you an unfurnished apartment by default.
Not included, and this is the list that catches people out:
- Furniture. Optional packages are available for an additional weekly fee under a separate rental agreement. If you take the unfurnished apartment you are buying a bed, a desk, a couch and a table, which is a real four-figure cost at move-in and a real cost again when you leave.
- Electricity and water. Individually metered and billed separately. Budget $25 to $45 a week for a one-bedroom depending on season and how hard you run the air conditioning.
- Internet. You arrange your own plan or take an Indi partner option. Complimentary Wi-Fi covers shared spaces only, not your apartment.
- Parking. Additional fee at Southbank and Footscray, and Footscray allocates on a first-in basis. Not available at all at Indi Sydney.
- Contents insurance. Not provided.
Add those up and a $665 Southbank studio realistically lands between $700 and $720 a week all-in, before you have bought a bed. A PBSA studio quoted at $650 with bills and Wi-Fi included and a bed already in it is not the more expensive option, whatever the headline suggests.
Three facilities that actually change the maths
Ignore the amenity lists for a moment — every new building in Australia has a rooftop and a gym now. Three things here genuinely alter your weekly spend.
In-apartment laundry. Every Indi apartment has its own washing machine and dryer. In PBSA you are typically paying $4 to $6 a wash and the same to dry, in a shared laundry, on a card. At three loads a week that is $25 to $35 a week, or roughly $1,300 over a 44-week year. This is the most underrated line item in the whole comparison and it goes a long way toward closing the gap on bills.
A full kitchen with a real oven. Southbank and Footscray both specify a full-size oven and induction cooktop. A studio in student accommodation usually gives you a two-burner cooktop and a microwave. If you cook properly, this is the difference between eating from your own kitchen and topping up with takeaway several nights a week — worth $60 to $100 a week at Melbourne prices, and Footscray Market is 10 minutes' walk from Indi Footscray.
Co-working space with bookable rooms. All three buildings have this, with call booths and monitors at Footscray and podcast and media rooms at Southbank. For postgraduate students who need somewhere to take a supervision call or record, that is a genuine substitute for a campus booking system that is always full. Our guide to postgraduate accommodation in Australia covers what else to look for at that level.
The pet policy deserves a separate mention because no PBSA operator in Australia offers it. Pets are welcome at all three buildings subject to approval and breed restrictions, and Southbank and Footscray have a pet run and dog wash.
Security and management
All three are professionally managed buildings with on-site resident services teams, a lobby presence at Indi Sydney, fob-controlled lift and floor access, intercom entry, and a resident app for maintenance requests and bookings. Southbank advertises 24/7 security. Maintenance is handled by in-house technicians rather than an external landlord's preferred plumber, which in practice means faster repairs than a private rental — the main structural advantage build-to-rent has over a mum-and-dad investor property.
What you do not get is the PBSA overlay: no curfews, no wellbeing check-ins, no residential life programme designed around a first-year cohort, no guaranteed student-only neighbours. Your floor will include working couples, families and older professionals. That is a benefit if you want quiet and a drawback if you are 18, newly arrived and hoping the building will make your friends for you. If that is your situation, a conventional student building will do more of the social work for you.
The money, over a full year
Student accommodation is priced over a 43 to 51-week academic contract. Indi is priced over a 12-month tenancy, or six months minimum. That difference alone is worth several thousand dollars and it is the single most important number in this article.
Take Indi Footscray, the cheapest entry point. A $520 studio over 52 weeks is $27,040 in rent, plus roughly $1,400 in utilities and internet, plus furniture. Call it $29,000 for the year. The same $520 over a 44-week PBSA-style contract would be $22,880 — but you cannot sign a 44-week lease at Indi, so the comparison is academic unless you sublet or break the lease, and breaking it attracts fees under your rental agreement.
Now run Southbank. A $665 studio over 52 weeks is $34,580 plus bills, call it $36,000 all-in. A Melbourne PBSA studio in the CBD at $600 to $700 a week fully inclusive over 44 weeks lands at $26,400 to $30,800. Indi Southbank is the more expensive year unless you genuinely need 12 months of housing — which many postgraduate and research students do, and many undergraduates do not.
The configuration that wins outright is a shared two-bedroom at Footscray: about $370 each a week, roughly $19,200 each over a year plus bills. Nothing in Melbourne PBSA competes with that for space per dollar. It requires a flatmate you trust for twelve months, joint liability on the lease, and the willingness to live in the inner west. Our comparison of Sydney and Melbourne accommodation costs shows how differently that plays out across the two cities, and it is why Indi Sydney does not appear in any budget shortlist.
One genuine upside: because these are residential tenancy agreements, you sit under state tenancy law with a bond lodged with a government authority, formal notice periods and access to the tribunal. PBSA licence agreements often give you less. Read student tenant rights in private rentals alongside this, and if you are on a student visa, whether a visa holder can sign a long-term lease.
Who Indi suits
- Postgraduate, research and PhD students who need 12 months of housing anyway and have no reason to pay a premium for an academic-year contract
- Couples, and students bringing a partner or family — none of the three buildings restrict occupancy to students
- Anyone with a pet, which rules out essentially every PBSA operator in the country
- Students at VU Footscray Park, where Indi Footscray is a four-minute walk and cheaper than most Melbourne CBD studios
- Students at the University of Melbourne's Southbank campus, where 132 Kavanagh Street is as close as private housing gets
- Two friends willing to share a two-bedroom, where the per-person maths beats PBSA comfortably
- Anyone who cooks seriously and does a lot of laundry
Who it does not
- First-year undergraduates arriving alone who need a built-in social structure and a single all-inclusive weekly payment
- Anyone on a one-semester exchange or a short course — the six-month minimum is the floor, and a semester plus holidays does not fit an academic year budget
- Students on a tight fixed budget who cannot absorb a variable electricity bill or a surprise water invoice
- Anyone arriving without furniture who has not costed the furniture package or a full apartment fit-out
- Students who want to walk to UNSW or USYD — Indi Sydney is a CBD building at CBD prices, and the campus commutes are real
- Anyone who needs parking in Sydney, since Indi Sydney has none
- Students who want the option to leave at the end of the academic year without penalty; see breaking a contract early
Frequently asked questions
Is Indi student accommodation?
No. Indi is build-to-rent: institutionally owned apartment buildings let on standard residential tenancy agreements to the general public. UniLodge manages the buildings and markets them to students, which is why they appear in student accommodation searches, but there is no student-only eligibility, no academic-year contract and no residential life programme. Your neighbours will include working professionals and families.
What is the shortest lease I can sign at Indi?
Six months. Indi's own FAQ describes lease terms running from six months up to five years or more. There is no 43-week or 51-week academic contract option, which is the main structural difference from purpose-built student accommodation and the thing most likely to cost you money if you only need housing during semester.
How much is the bond and who holds it?
Typically four weeks' rent. In Victoria, covering Indi Southbank and Indi Footscray, it is lodged with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority. In New South Wales, Indi Sydney bonds go to NSW Fair Trading. Because these are government-held bonds under state tenancy law, you have a formal dispute process at the end of the tenancy that many PBSA licence agreements do not provide.
Are bills included in the rent?
No. Utilities are individually metered and charged separately, including water and electricity, and you arrange your own internet connection for the apartment. Complimentary Wi-Fi covers shared amenity spaces only. Budget an extra $25 to $45 a week on top of the advertised rent for a one-bedroom, more in a Melbourne winter.
How much is Indi Southbank and where exactly is it?
Indi Southbank is at 132 Kavanagh Street, Southbank VIC 3006, a 434-apartment tower in the Arts Precinct. Recent Domain listings show a studio at about $665 a week, one-bedrooms between roughly $695 and $815, and two-bedrooms between about $845 and $975. Those are individual apartments, not a price list, and none of them include bills or furniture.
Does Indi Sydney have parking?
No. Indi Sydney at 298 Pitt Street has no on-site parking. Indi Southbank and Indi Footscray both offer parking for an additional fee, with EV charging, and Footscray allocates its limited bays on a first-in basis. If you need a car in Sydney you will be paying separately for a commercial space nearby.
Can international students on a student visa rent at Indi?
Yes, subject to normal tenancy application checks covering identity, income or funds, and rental history. There is no visa-specific barrier to signing a residential tenancy agreement in Australia, though a lease longer than your visa is a risk worth thinking through, and some applicants are asked for a guarantor or additional rent in advance.
Bottom line
Indi is a good product being found by the wrong people. As build-to-rent it is genuinely strong: real apartments, in-apartment laundry, a full kitchen, pets allowed, professional maintenance, and the protection of a state-lodged bond and a proper tenancy agreement. Indi Footscray in particular, at 3-7 McNab Avenue with a four-minute walk to VU Footscray Park and studios from around $520, is one of the better-value new buildings in Melbourne for anyone who needs a full year of housing.
But if you are an undergraduate arriving for a single academic year, the six-month minimum, the unbundled bills, the empty apartment and the twelve-month rent liability will almost certainly cost you more than a comparable PBSA studio, even where the weekly headline looks similar. Run the total across the weeks you actually need, not the weeks you are quoted. Indi Sydney at 298 Pitt Street is the clearest example: a fine CBD apartment building, priced for professionals, that no student should shortlist on cost.
The one caveat in the other direction: prices at all three buildings move constantly and all three were advertising incentives in September 2026 — up to six weeks rent free on selected Southbank studios and one-bedrooms, and four weeks free at Footscray. Amortised over a 12-month lease, six weeks free takes a $665 Southbank studio to roughly $588 a week effective, which changes the comparison materially. Ask what the incentive is before you compare anything, and ask what happens to the rent at renewal.
