Melbourne is home to approximately 758 completed high-rise buildings. Of those completed and topped out, 79 are defined as "skyscrapers" – buildings which reach a height of at least – more than any other city in Australia. Overall, Melbourne's skyline ranks as the tallest in Oceania and the 24th-tallest in the world by the number of completed skyscrapers. , the tallest building in Melbourne is the 100-storey Australia 108, which stands in height; whilst being the second-tallest building in Australia, it is the tallest to roof.

Geographically, most of Melbourne's tallest skyscrapers are concentrated in the Melbourne central business district (CBD); however, other locations of prominent skyscrapers and tall buildings in Melbourne include , , , , South Melbourne, South Yarra and St Kilda Road. The CBD, defined by a grid of streets known as the Hoddle Grid, has a historically low central shopping area with a high-rise cluster in the western financial district and another in the eastern end. Buildings are more densely packed in the west than the east, although the latter has some of the CBD's tallest buildings to architectural feature – 120 Collins Street and 101 Collins Street – whilst West Side Place Tower A, located in the western district, is taller to roof. In the 2010s, another skyscraper cluster rose in the northern section, which contains the CBD's tallest building, Aurora Melbourne Central.

Historically, Melbourne has been associated with several architectural milestones and building height records in Australia. During a brief skyscraper boom from 1888 to 1892, the city was one of the first in the world to build numerous tall office buildings, alongside New York City and Chicago in the United States. This period produced the APA Building (1889), which was among Australia's first high-rise and its tallest at the time.

Melbourne later played an important role in post-war high-rise development with the construction of ICI House (Orica House) in 1958, widely regarded as Australia's first modern skyscraper. From 1986 to 2005, the city hosted Australia's tallest buildings in succession: the Rialto Towers (1986–1991), 101 Collins Street (1991) and 120 Collins Street (1991–2005). , Melbourne has been the location of the second-tallest buildings in the country – Eureka Tower (2006–2020) and Australia 108 (2020–present). Each skyscraper was, at one time, the tallest building in Australia by roof height, surpassed in overall height only by Q1 on the Gold Coast.

History and specifications

19th century The late 1880s land boom saw the construction of 11 "lofty edifices" of 8 to 10 floors, made possible by the introduction of a pressurised hydraulic power network to operate lifts, and taking load bearing brickwork to great heights. The APA Building (Australian Building), at 12 floors topped with a spire, was the tallest, and can claim to be Australia's first skyscraper and amongst the tallest high-rise buildings in the world when completed in 1889. Other skyscrapers located in the CBD during this period included the Finks Building and 3 matching "Prell's Buildings". They were mostly built in an elaborate High Victorian style, with facades of stucco Renaissance Revival elements, a deviation being the APA building which was in red brick Queen Anne, prompting architectural historian Miles Lewis to comment that Melbourne had become a "Queen Anne Chicago". All except two were torn down in the post-war boom of the 1960s and 1970s, with the APA controversially demolished in 1981.

20th century Following much discussion, a height limit was introduced to Melbourne in 1916, along with regulations concerning fire-proof construction. This height is often said to have been the limit of fire ladders at the time, but this was an idea that the then fire chief allowed to be widely circulated even though the tallest ladder rose to only , in order to ensure that fire safety was paramount. The main reasons for the limit, as well as fire proofing, were the preservation of light and air to the streets, avoiding congestion, and the influence of the City Beautiful movement, preferring evenly scaled streetscapes over those with buildings of varying heights. The height limit remained in force for nearly 40 years, allowing only uninhabited architectural features to project beyond the 40 metre limit. The Manchester Unity Building (1932), for instance, achieved a total height of to the top of its corner tower.

Melbourne was the first city in Australia to undergo a post-war high-rise boom, which began in the late 1950s (though Sydney in the following decades built more), with over 50 high-rise buildings constructed between the 1970s and 1990s. ICI House (1955) was constructed after being granted a variation to the height limit; at a height of , the building was Australia's first International-style high-rise."National Heritage Places – Orica House (formerly the ICI Building) – National Heritage List" . Australian Government: Department of the Environment. Retrieved 8 September 2015. Its variation was on the basis that the design included an open garden space at ground level, introducing the concept of floor area ratio, where a total allowable floor area is used instead of a specific height limit. This was formalised by "plot ratios" of 1:8 to 1:12 for different areas of the CBD in the "Borrie Report" in 1964, which was modified into a series of "plot ratio benefit" schemes in the early 1980s, where the upper level of floor area could only be achieved in return for certain public benefits, such as a public arcade. Plot ratios remained in force for every site until 1999, when the "New Format" Planning Scheme included plot ratios for entire city blocks rather than individual sites, a control that was mostly ignored.

In 1972, BHP House (now 140 William Street) became Melbourne's first building to surpass the height of , and thus was Melbourne's first "skyscraper". BHP House was the city's tallest for a few years, and remains one of the few heritage-registered skyscrapers in Melbourne. Slightly taller, the Optus Centre was completed in 1975, and then in 1977, Nauru House became the tallest building in Melbourne, at a height of . In 1978, what would be the first of two Collins Place towers, ANZ Tower, opened at a height of , becoming Melbourne's tallest building.ANZ Tower – The Skyscraper Center . Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

By the early 1980s, Melbourne had a total of 6 buildings above , with the completion of the Wentworth (later Regent then Sofitel) Hotel at Collins Place in 1980. In 1986, the Rialto Towers surpassed Sydney's MLC Centre as the tallest building in both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, with a height of . At the time of its opening, it was the 25th-tallest building in the world.Interactive Data – The Skyscraper Center . Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 30 August 2020. The 1990s brought Melbourne another 9 buildings over , 5 of which exceeded heights of . Specifically, 1991 saw the construction of the 101 Collins Street, which became the tallest building in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere; it was surpassed in height later that year with the completion of the nearby 120 Collins Street. The skyscraper, which stands at in height, held the titles for tallest building in Australia and in the Southern Hemisphere for fourteen years, until the completion of the Gold Coast's Q1 in 2005.

21st century

During the 2000s, over 20 high-rise structures were completed, including the Eureka Tower (2006), which overtook 120 Collins Street as the tallest building in Melbourne and became the second-tallest in Australia (although tallest to its roof). Eureka Tower was also the tallest residential building in the world to roof, until surpassed by Ocean Heights and the HHHR Tower in Dubai. , it is the 15th-tallest apartment building in the world.

Construction trends significantly increased throughout the 2010s, which included the completion of Prima Pearl (2014) and Aurora Melbourne Central (2019), both of which exceed in height. Throughout the decade, the city experienced an "unprecedented" skyscraper construction boom,"Melbourne's going skyhigh but so are complaints about planning controls" . The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 March 2015."Dormitory city: Melbourne's brittle highrise apartment boom" . The Conversation. Retrieved 15 March 2015.Farnsworth, Sarah. (11 July 2014) "Going up: Melbourne's building boom" . ABC News. Retrieved 27 April 2015. with 22 skyscrapers constructed between 2010 and 2019.Completed Buildings in Melbourne, 2010-2019. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 23 April 2022. This feat had been described as the "Manhattanization of Melbourne".

During this period, new towers in the CBD had average plot ratios of 37:1.Lucas, Clay. (5 September 2015). "New CBD rules clamp down on excessive skyscraper heights and densities" . The Age. Retrieved 31 October 2015. In September 2015, the Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne, introduced a 12-month height limit of approximately for all buildings proposed in the CBD and segments of , along with interim planning laws that re-introduced a floor area ratio of 18:1, which could be exceeded up to a maximum of 24:1 only with the provision of certain public benefits. Should projects exceed the plot ratio, developers will need to make a special case to the Minister, outlining the proposal's state significance. These controls were made permanent in September 2016.(5 September 2015). "Temporary planning rules aim to preserve Melbourne's most-liveable status" . 9News. Retrieved 8 September 2015. Buildings proposed prior to September 2015, such as Australia 108, which has a plot ratio of 46.6:1, were exempt from the new law.(5 September 2015). "Victoria clamps down on high-rise apartment towers" . Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 8 September 2015.

The beginning of the 2020s saw the completion of Australia 108, which surpassed Eureka Tower as the tallest building in Melbourne and the tallest building in Australia to roof in 2020. It also became the Southern Hemisphere's first skyscraper to comprise at least 100 floors, and Melbourne's first building to be defined as a supertall skyscraper (buildings between the heights of and ). In 2021, 12 skyscrapers were completed in the cityCompleted Buildings in Melbourne, 2021-2021. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 28 November 2022. – five more than the previous peak in 2020,Completed Buildings in Melbourne, 2020-2020. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 28 November 2022. and more than double the prior peaks in 2017,Completed Buildings in Melbourne, 2017-2017. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 23 April 2022. 2005Completed Buildings in Melbourne, 2005-2005. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 23 April 2022. and 1991.Completed Buildings in Melbourne, 1991-1991. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 23 April 2022. Among the tallest built in 2021 were West Side Place Tower A and Queens Place North Tower, both of which exceed in height. The tallest currently approved is the dual-skyscraper project STH BNK by Beulah. Tower 1 will rise to in height – supplanting Australia 108 as the tallest building in Melbourne and Q1 as the tallest building in Australia – whilst Tower 2 will rise to , taller than any other completed building in Australia outside of Melbourne and the Gold Coast.