Hi guys,
i've just had a look at this month's API, and at the back is a map of melbourne with the suburbs growing in price. I noticed the majority of the fast growing suburbs is towards the east, where the east link is going to be built. Obviously this has a direct factor and is pushing prices up, but more importantly, why does the west side suck compared to the east side? Is it because canberra, sydney and brisbane are on the eastern coas tand hence more traffic flows through that way? what are your thoughts on the western suburbs?
I agree the East Link is a huge factor driving prices in the east of Melbourne. We have been doing reno's in Hoppers Crossing and Werribee and have now moved our interest to the East as the market isn't performing as we had hoped out there. I think it's conceived as a more desirable location. A friend of mine calls the western suburbs the moon. He says it's flat, miles from anywhere and there's nothing out there. The west generally has a lower income resident so I guess prices have a ceiling on them before they become in accessible to most of the population. We found also the availability of cheap new housing built in their thousands by major developers makes it difficult to compete in the market. I'm tipping though, the price knock on factor and the shortage of cheap rental properties at the present close to Melbourne will eventually lift the prices out there in the not too distant future.
Keep in mind though majority of the population of melbourne has been in the North/South/East for a lot longer than the West. Most people will stay near their families when they buy a first, second home especially with young children to raise. My husband can remember when Altona Meadows (in the west) used to be paddocks just for rabbiting! I believe each generation of families move out 1 or 2 suburbs past their parents and then eventually try and work their way back in (if they can). Well at least that's what i see.
Yes, there is a difference in terms of facilities between East/West, but If you are in a good suburb like Willy,Altona, Newport, Yarraville then prices are going up and infrastructure is going in. Hoppers, Point Cook, Werribee are definately the lower income ranges. Most houses are the same and were built just like altona once was – on a shoe string….. but Altona is not a first home buyers area now! Of course these areas will go up, Point cook seemed so far away 6yrs ago, but in another 6yrs who knows maybe Melton won't seem so bad either. just a thought
We don't have money worries and we choose to live in Altona. We would rather spend $300k (which is what it would cost extra to move to the equivalent in the SE suburbs) on a nice boat, nice cars and investment deposits. We have family here but most of our friends are in the SE suburbs of Brighton East, Mentone etc and we realise what they have and what we don't in terms of suburb comparison, but we have wide open spaces, less traffic, more money to spend on living life!
One more thing which is interesting…. my husband can remember when no one wanted to live on the Esplanade in Altona (due to seaweed smell) they all thought Queen Street was better, so hence why there was a lot of vacant blocks their and small cheap houses until a few years ago. Who's laughing now, small 700sqm blocks sell for no less than 1mil and rising fast. It's all a matter of perception, the seaweed smell is still there!!!!! Keep in mind the new Laverton / Point Cook township that was announced not long ago. First home buyers will be FORCED WITH NO OPTIONS into the outer west and of course they need shops, schools, roads, public transport. I believe in good time Werribee will boom due to infrastructure improvements (on top of what is there now) and all the new schools in Point Cook and surrounding areas. I wouldn't snubb my nose up at the West, we have a lot of improving to do, but when it happens – watch out.
i am definatley not snubbing my nose to the west; i was actually planning to buy my first IP near the west, as i don't have that much saved up and can only afford something thats cheap… currently the west is pretty good!
Sorry oneiricer, not directed at you personally. just a figure of speech in terms of most peoples general outlook of the West versus South East. Just trying to help out with a little insight hope i helped a little. Gosh so many topics are turned into a roasting here, maybe i should put my tail between my legs. lol no really i think your topic is interesting and until the stigma attached to the WEST is slowly eroded most people will still look at the area like 'the moon'.
I attended an auction today in Altona, a house sold for $265k above the asking price!!! sounds like the west taking off a bit to me.
Good luck with your investment search, you may like to look at Seabrook for about $270k it's right in the middle of Point cook / Altona and right next door to Sanctuary lakes, very much a first home buyers area and good rental returns. Will benefit from all the schools public and private that are going in around it.
Hey Beanie Monster,
lol, i guess we've just misunderstood each other. i knew you weren't critising me at all; i just believe you when you said a lot of people snubbing the west. but logically, if you think about it, places such as narre warren and berwick, which is more than 30k south east of melbourne, house prices are very high. i would think prudent & logical people, who work in the city, would prefer the western suburbs over south east, as there really isn't too much room anymore.
i guess i will look into depth into the western suburbs then
-Ken
I dont call it Bad, I call it a Bargain.
Theres nothing wrong with the west, they just used to be industrial areas.
As the prices gone up everywhere, smart developers convert them to residential, and big smokey industrial get pushed further from the city. Now whats there are some distribution hub warehouse, which means job market and strong rental market.Its only a matter of time before western suburb that close to city are going to out perform their far east counterparts.
I used to live in Sydney, and eventually the areas surrounding the city is going to catch up as the development and improvement going along.Paul
Hi there
I am myself looking to invest in the western suburbs of Victoria as my 1st IP. I think prices are reasonable enough so that morgage repayments are not too stressful which is pretty important. Whilst I could probably stretch myself and obtain a loan for a property worth $300K, if I can get a property for $150K which provides a reasonable rental return of of 4 – 5%, I will be happier knowing if I screw up, I have not screwed up big time…..(Its a bit scary when you are going it alone and making all the decisions yourself). I have been looking at Ballarat, Werribee and Melton, in the town centres, away from all the estates which seem to be a dime a dozen around Werribee and Melton especially.
Whilst the capital growth may be on the low side, all experience is good experience and when you read alot of books (eg Steve McKnights), alot of people seemed to start on the cheaper side and build there way up once they were more comfortable.
Now all I need to do is decide which area is the best for cash flow as they all seem to be included in the 30 year plan for Melbourne and have growing infrastructure, improving road works etc.
Let me know how you go……
we are in the middle of buying in truganina.. right across the road from point cook. We are not from melbourne but researched it for almost a year and went from east to west and then flew down there and took a look. In my mind its a goldmine, all new housing plenty of shops and warehouses, schools, fantastic highways and the ocean across the road. The city is in view and only takes 15-20 minutes uninterrupted by highway. I only hope when this one is finished we have enough lending power for another before the prices are out of our reach.
I have listened to heaps of people who have done it themselves and the reno brothers gave one piece before where they said something along the lines of look into the future, look for what is going in as in infrastructure, look for what people want in their housing and then spot the bargains.
West Melbourne has it all and is waiting to go off.
Some people like me do not like living in the west due to the fact that the sun rises in the east and goes down in the west. So if you work in Melbourne you drive with the sun in your eyes in the morning and drive with the sun in your eyes in the afternoon.
Ohhh Duckster
Sun in your eyes?
Is that how you invest, or live your life?
Gee that is very lame. (a lame duck ster).sienna1 wrote:we are in the middle of buying in truganina.. right across the road from point cook. We are not from melbourne but researched it for almost a year and went from east to west and then flew down there and took a look. In my mind its a goldmine, all new housing plenty of shops and warehouses, schools, fantastic highways and the ocean across the road. The city is in view and only takes 15-20 minutes uninterrupted by highway. I only hope when this one is finished we have enough lending power for another before the prices are out of our reach.I have listened to heaps of people who have done it themselves and the reno brothers gave one piece before where they said something along the lines of look into the future, look for what is going in as in infrastructure, look for what people want in their housing and then spot the bargains.
West Melbourne has it all and is waiting to go off.
Ocean? City in view? hahaa. Yeah ok, so there’s “werribee beach” lol and the city can be seen from afar because there is nothing out there to spoil your view! But I’m just being a bitch, the real clanger in here is that you said it’s only 15.20 mins uninterrupted on the on the highway-true may it be, how long do you think it will take you during peak hour when people are trying to get to work?? The traffic banks back and you’re looking at a 45 minute trip in most cases.
THEHEATH wrote:Ocean? City in view? hahaa. Yeah ok, so there's "werribee beach" lol and the city can be seen from afar because there is nothing out there to spoil your view! But I'm just being a bitch, the real clanger in here is that you said it's only 15.20 mins uninterrupted on the on the highway-true may it be, how long do you think it will take you during peak hour when people are trying to get to work?? The traffic banks back and you're looking at a 45 minute trip in most cases.As oposed to anywhere else that is built on the bay? lol such a typical eastern suburb tosser comment. Thats o.k though becuase while all you turkeys have been paying through the nose to live in a 3 bedder an hour out of the cbd I have been buying up close to the city in the west and have already seem my wealth go through the roof-its only common sense that people with a budget of say $400-$500k are guna look at inner west compared to outer east and buy inner west and drive it up even more. You just keep on enjoying your south eastern car park
blogs wrote:THEHEATH wrote:Ocean? City in view? hahaa. Yeah ok, so there's "werribee beach" lol and the city can be seen from afar because there is nothing out there to spoil your view! But I'm just being a bitch, the real clanger in here is that you said it's only 15.20 mins uninterrupted on the on the highway-true may it be, how long do you think it will take you during peak hour when people are trying to get to work?? The traffic banks back and you're looking at a 45 minute trip in most cases.As oposed to anywhere else that is built on the bay? lol such a typical eastern suburb tosser comment. Thats o.k though becuase while all you turkeys have been paying through the nose to live in a 3 bedder an hour out of the cbd I have been buying up close to the city in the west and have already seem my wealth go through the roof-its only common sense that people with a budget of say $400-$500k are guna look at inner west compared to outer east and buy inner west and drive it up even more. You just keep on enjoying your south eastern car park
I live in Williamstown.Want me to draw you a map?
blogs wrote:THEHEATH wrote:Ocean? City in view? hahaa. Yeah ok, so there's "werribee beach" lol and the city can be seen from afar because there is nothing out there to spoil your view! But I'm just being a bitch, the real clanger in here is that you said it's only 15.20 mins uninterrupted on the on the highway-true may it be, how long do you think it will take you during peak hour when people are trying to get to work?? The traffic banks back and you're looking at a 45 minute trip in most cases.As oposed to anywhere else that is built on the bay? lol such a typical eastern suburb tosser comment. Thats o.k though becuase while all you turkeys have been paying through the nose to live in a 3 bedder an hour out of the cbd I have been buying up close to the city in the west and have already seem my wealth go through the roof-its only common sense that people with a budget of say $400-$500k are guna look at inner west compared to outer east and buy inner west and drive it up even more. You just keep on enjoying your south eastern car park
So I should expand. Obviously I wasn’t bagging the west. I was merely pointing out some facts, the most crucial of which is that you can get to the city in 15-20 mins. Living in Williamstown and travelling over the West Gate daily I know this is about how long it takes me to get to the CBD so there is no way in hell you are going to get there in 15-20 from truganina.
THEHEATH wrote:So I should expand. Obviously I wasn't bagging the west. I was merely pointing out some facts, the most crucial of which is that you can get to the city in 15-20 mins. Living in Williamstown and travelling over the West Gate daily I know this is about how long it takes me to get to the CBD so there is no way in hell you are going to get there in 15-20 from truganina.No probs-just depends on how you like to quote things-Im sick of the amount of people who used to try to tell me Glen Waverley was only half an hour out of the CBD-the only time I EVER found this to be true was at 6am on a Sunday morning lol Why anyone would want to live even further out in places like Cranbourne and Narrewarren is beyond me-it must take them at least 2 hours to get into the C.B.D, yet say to these same people 'have you looked at a nice town like Bacchus MARSH' AND THEY ALL REPLY 'MY GOD HOW FAR AWAY FROMTHE CITY IS THAT!!!!!' still makes me laugh……..
Hutch says –
Ohhh Duckster
Sun in your eyes?
Is that how you invest, or live your life?
Gee that is very lame. (a lame duck ster).Hutch,you seem very quick to belittle other peoples opinions. I happen to completly agree with Duckster on his point of view. I lived at Brookfield a western suburb of Brisbane for a period of time and my main reason for moving to the East was precisely as Duckster states. Apart for the lousy road conditions in the Western corridor, the driving into the sun both morning and afternoon really takes it out of you.
JonJon,
Oh Please. Sorry if you disagree. But since you don't know, or live in the area in question.
Comments like "sun in your eyes" are mind bogglingly short sighted when property investing, NOT belittling. That was the point I was making.Perhaps that new fangdangled invention called sunglasses could help?lol
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
