Growth areas in Melbourne – budget areas (under 400k) – Any suggestions

Hi Energy4Anarchy,

Can you give us a little bit more information in terms of what you are looking for and for which purpose. eg. Are you looking at purchasing something to renovate and resell or are you looking to get an investment to hold on to long term and just rent out, etc. What are you budgetary limitations? etc

Wantirna south, Sunshine (don't laugh the big developers have moved in doing H & L packages), Ringwood East.
Finding something under $400k is the big challenge, but if you start somewhere and then circle out you should find something that suits.

Look for growth, look for infrastructure, shops, rail, roads, anything that will make people live there. Still pretty nuts in Melb but the FHB territories have slowed a lot might be able to pick up something cheap…….

D

Yep. Ringwood East is probably 2 kms further sideways. Mount Dandenong Rd turns into the start of Eastlink. Maroondah Hospital is there (being upgraded) and there is a train station too. You can then go further to Croydon too. I like it a lot but i do not have endless funds

Oh Well! Can't buy everything.

D

LOL! No bargains in Melbourne. Time to start the trek over to other states, have a tour through SA and end up in WA. I think this is the last hoorah for bargains. Regional maybe.

D

murrumbeena and carnegie.  murrumbeena borders on east malvern (which is ridiculously unafordable) so its only a matter of time before it pushes us neighbouring areas

To be brutally honest, I'd be humoured to see what 400K and under would buy. One of the things I was looking at in that price range was actually St Kilda apartments, but as with anything there's always the issue of supply and demand. Gut feel tells me there's a lot of apartments floating around there and vacancy rates are probably a little higher than the outer east areas.

Fundamentally however, their location is generally sound, amongst great infrastructure, shops, close to entertainment, transport, eateries, the beach, and less than 7kms from the CBD, in what looks like a rather charming environment. Honestly, I would consider moving there, because I could come home everyday, grab a drink from my fridge and just head out and laze on the beach in the evenings.

Ringwood has gone up a good deal in recent months. DWolfe mentioned Croydon, which is incidentally where I live in what is currently my first home. People have differing opinions about Croydon. Some say it's nicely treed, leafy, quiet, the border between city and country (especially in the northern part, IMO). But some others will tell you its full of bogans. Don't let that stop you however, especially if you're looking to buy rental properties. Vacancy rates are low, if you check SQM Research, so my guess is that if you pick up something in a decent spot it should rent easily.

Now 'decent' is a subjective term, because one of my friends personally likes the area north of Maroondah Highway, and while my agent agrees, he also states the area near main street is an excellent location (coincidentally the area that the said friend told me to avoid). Either way, you'd probably be looking at a nice house on a smaller block, a house that needs more work but on a full sized block 800-1000sqm, or a unit. Recent activity has pushed prices up.

Another colleague at work personally likes Berwick and Lyndhurst, and is also now looking at Hampton Park and Narre Warren, but I couldn't tell you much about these places. And, yet another colleague of mine lives in Frankston and recently sold his IP in Bentleigh East. He thinks Frankston is going to grow a lot more in the coming years. I used to look at the listings of Seaford although never been there personally. Heard its kinda rough, but again someone else here might highly recommend it.

These could be 'growth' areas which might interest you. I don't know if Croydon classifies as a 'growth' area, because strictly, there appears to be a lack of new land for sale. This could be a good thing since new houses springing up everywhere don't bode too well for older houses in the same area. I also think Croydon looks undervalued alongside Ringwood and to a certain extent maybe Boronia. But take my opinion with a few huge grains of salt, will ya?

HI all.

It still surprises me that when people think property in Melbourne they only think North and East. No on eseems to look at property across the West Gate Bridge.

I purchased a very nice four bedrooom house in Seabrook, near Point Cook, for $338,000 in Nov 2007. Currently worth at least $100K more than that. Why? Only about 20km from the city, has schools, shops etc witihin walking distance and two train stations within four monute drive, and with the completion of the Point Cook Shopping Plaza in late 2008 the area has been going great guns.

I currently rent it for $360 a week, having lived in it myself for about 15 months. Rent could do better, and I intend to review this in a few months, but as for growth, this is an area that is playing catch-up as people realise it's not that far from the city and the North and East are too expensive. My research in late 2007, in particular my lack of bias when I looked at distance to the city and surrounding facilities/infrastructure, before I bought has for me paid off. I'm currently residing overseas, but may look to sell this and cash in the growth to spend on better cash flow properties.

The area has become quite expensive now, but there are places still under $400,000 and there are planty of new estates.

I'm not saying that this area is the be all and end all, but please take note that there is a huge corridor of land yet to be filled just across the West Gate Bridge. If you're looking for growth over the long term, and they say Melbourne is growing faster than Sydney, then look at this void of potential housing.

Good luck with your search for an investment propert in Melbourne.

Regards,

Mike 

Hey there energy4anarchy,

Personally I have found sucess investing in narre warren. Area has had a 10.8% median price rise over the past 12 months and in my opinion this area will be booming in the next 5 years! The fact that its very central to public transport and fountain gate makes it highly desirable to renters. I am actually working as an estate agent for a very reputable company in the area (please dont hold it against me) and what ive obverved from buyers in the last couple of months has astonished me. Homes are selling for prices I would have thought rediculous 2 years ago and there is a huge surge brewing of properties about to enter the market. <moderator: delete advertising>

Allison Collis
[email protected]