Speculation on Areas

In Melbourne, at least in the cheaper outer East, one of them might be (or at least I hope) Croydon, particularly the area north of Maroondah Highway, bordering on Ringwood, Warranwood and Croydon Hills/ Croydon North. Short drive to the train stations, and with buses to commute to either Ringwood or Croydon station. Close to prestigious schools: Yarra Valley Grammer, Luther College, Rudolf Steiner…quiet and country-like compared to neighbouring Ringwood.

I'm putting money where my mouth is in this instance because I actually just bought my first property there and am betting for it to go up. It was also stated as being one of the suburbs to do well in 2010 in an article from Domain (a liftout from The Age). Not that I believe it has the best potential in Melbourne, but on a budget in the outer East, I reckon it's a good place to buy.

Values in next-door Ringwood have gone up a good deal of late, pushing us average folk further out. Other first-home buyers with my level of average salary have generally talked about buying in Bayswater, Boronia and Ferntree Gully. In that sense Croydon seems to have been forgotten. It's almost a crossover from city into country, yet it has ready access to Eastlink, shopping centers and also schools. The houses on some of the streets here are quaint, older, single-storey weatherboards often on big blocks of land 800sqm or larger. That's some serious family-sized backyard there.

The original houses have great charm, and rows of these look just beautiful from the street, particularly with the majority of them looking very well-maintained. But any willing person could knock it down and build a mansion or possibly subdivide. It will be a matter of time I think, before these bigger blocks start disappearing and give way to units.

Either that, or I bought wrong and I just have a vested interest in writing here… I'll be hanging onto this place for sometime, so hopefully at least time would fix my mistakes.

I'll be very interested to see what other areas are mentioned here…unless they're red herrings.

Heheh, my fight was over months ago, so I won't be back for a while. I shouldn't buy another property in Croydon, based on the philosophy of 'spreading risk'. Montrose might be the other sleeper suburb (very liveable, safe and beautiful, by the sounds of it). I'm still new to this property thing, but when (and if) I get to buy my second property, I'd be considering if I would live there myself before actually buying.

Mitcham and Nunawading, even Vermont/ Vermont South and Forest Hill, Heathmont…these were amongst the surburbs I targeted to buy my first home. But as the story goes, I was rapidly priced out and couldn't get in before the market soared beyond my reach. I'm guessing it'd be hard to find a detached house in these areas now at the 450K mark, unless it's in a condition needing a fair bit of work, or a small house on a small block of land.

This is why I referred to Croydon: the next suburb out where a family-sized block is still within reach of someone willing to splash out up to 450K. I have a colleague living in Wantirna South. Nice over there, but again seems to be tough to catch at 450K.

I like Geelong as well. I grew up there but now live in Melbourne, but looking to buy in Geelong shortly and ultimately move back there.

Its had conservative but steady growth recently so less chance of rapid price decline should the market collapse.

Its a relatively comfortable ~55min train ride to Melb CBD provided you get a seat – I'm sure this issue will be addressed in time.  Transit times will only improve long term. 

I think a lot of people who are priced out of a Melbourne family home will start looking there..though I am biased as I am one of those people!

Far out! How long ago was it that it was just 240K? In this instance you would have some experience of what suburb boomed after you started checking it out, and there might be some factors responsible for its movement.

Geelong was a place I considered somewhat vaguely, due mostly to the travel distance if I had to commute back and forth just to find the right place to buy. After that it could be simpler however if I could have a trusted agent to manage it for me. My first visit to Geelong was 7-8 years ago when we were passing through. It was real sleepy at that time. Last year I visited again and it was well and truly on its way, lots of activity. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

That's amazing. Although you would also have to take some credit for doubling your money in that 4 short years. I don't know WA at all. Was Belmont considered a 'crappy' suburb 4 years ago? Was it characterised by good infrastructure such as the presence of schools, train station and shopping center back then? Or did the arrival of such amenities bring up the price?

These days I wouldn't bet on a 300K suburb in Victoria doubling (or even tripling) in value over 4-5 years. At a glance, the infrastructure in these areas just doesn't cut it. And I wouldn't want to buy in a hole and at the same time bet (probably against all hope) that the necessary infrastructure will come in!

Box Hill and Mitcham are well and truly gone if you're looking for bargains….Box Hill has been ballistic, even if you're looking at Box Hill North…