Hi everyone.
I'm planning to buy a property in Sydney, my budget is $570000, and at least 2 bed house or unit.
I'm willing to spend 2hrs commuting.
Are these good suburbs?
Wentworthville NSW 2145
Toongabbie
Pendle hill
West mead
Thanks everyone.
does not show undetected crime.
undetected means it cant be detected. 2 + 2 = 4
Lol Einstein
So if a tree falls in the forest and there's nobody there to witness it, the tree… would be lying about domestic abuse? Got it.
It doesn't show unreported crime, but one could assume each area has a similar level of unreported crime. You could assume if an area has a lot of reported crime, it likely has a lot of unreported crime, and an area with small amounts of reported crime would likely have less unreported crime too.
I have a 2 hour commute each way and live in the Blue Mountains. I walk to the train, close at both ends and it is very low stress, but a long trip.
Where I live has a community like a country town more than a suburb.
If you genuinely can accommodate a long commute for a better lifestyle and cheaper house prices, you might consider it.
My reasons for moving here were largely around getting a good lifestyle for my kids, which included a stay at home parent when they were young. It has been a good lifestyle for me too, although I am fortunate to work from home two days a week.
I know a lot of Sydney people who have moved here, almost none have moved back (and in both cases it was when they were older and their kids had left home and lived in Sydney).
The downside is there is little high paying employment nearby, and kids feel they miss out on big city stuff when they are older teenagers - I am happy to let them catch a train into the city to meet up with friends, but if you are a more closely vigilant parent that might be an issue.
I really like greeting my neighbours when I walk to the shops, and that my kids can bike around and never be more than a block or two from a friends house. Personally, it has been the right choice for us, but I can understand it wouldn't suit a career couple or similar.
Re-reading your post, and the suburbs you listed 40mins from town, I now realise you mean a 2 hour commute round trip. So disregard my post as the closest mountains town is about 1hr 10mins from the city.
Hi mskeggs, that's such a beautiful place to live in. Just wondering, during summer, do you get worried or affected by bush fires? Touch wood. That was my initial concern living around trees, which I assume you would be close to big forests of trees.
My house is 100 years old and 5 mins walk from town. It could be at risk in a catastrophic fire, I guess, but it has survived a few so far. If I walk 10 mins away from town it gets heavily forested with gum trees, but my place is just a leafy suburb. As you probably know, the fires a bit over a year ago were very bad, and caused a lot of damage, but nobody was badly hurt or killed. As a community we are getting pretty good at living in a place where fire is a risk.
Remember, too, that the mountains is 70km long east to west. A fire in the "blue mountains" can be as far away from me as Hornsby or Sutherland is to the city.
Those bad fires were literally half an hour drive from my place, would you worry if you were in Bondi if there was a fire in Parramatta? The last bad fires in my town were in the 1950s - but they were very bad then.
I wouldn't say we are ambivalent toward fires. We all know where to run if anything takes us by surprise, so I don't feel any personal safety risk, and we have good off-site back ups for photos and good insurance, but it probably takes no more headspace than I used to devote to locking the car and putting a steering wheel lock each time when I lived in the suburbs.
A fire would be obviously terrible, but as we can flee somewhere safe with 60 seconds notice, it troubles me the way an earthquake or tsunami might (a little bit, but really very little).
Side note from this - we're looking at getting a place in a year or 2 outside of Melb which is in a fire zone, what's your insurance like? I know it it will be different based on area/state but I'd like to get a tiny bit of any idea.
@chu-oh:
My house isn't in a location with elevated fire risk. It is more than 100m from any bushland.
I live in the dandenongs in Melbourne. We are in the fire zone, but our insurance does not seem that high. Not much more compared to when we lived in inner melbourne
@Bargainkappa: Cool cool, we're looking at Belgrave - so cheap compared to Brunswick and it seems to have everything have here.
Yep Belgrave is great, has lots of cafe and bars. It has an alternative crowd and is becoming more and more popular.
Also value for money. Only thing to consider is distance from work
Please help me pick a safe suburb in Sydney
That's actually South Sydney.
HA :)
No,all these suburbs are west of Sydney. I lived in Wentworthville about 20 years ago. It was good then close to Parramatta, not too crowded. I drove pass Wenty a few months ago and noticed quite a bit of changes, more medium density housing guess it is happening to most places in Sydney.
It all depends what you can afford and where you want to work and bring up your family.
Perth? 😀
Sorry if this is generalisation but normally people don't think suburbs in the west are the safest in Sydney. Go to North, as far as your budget can get you a place to live within your commuting requirements
I have a number of friends who live in the west, including Kings Langley, Toongabbie and previously, Pendle Hill. None of these suburbs have any safety issues above average.
I suspect you might have a bit of a break and enter risk in a flat in Westmead, just because blocks of flats seem to be more targeted than houses for burglary, but that probably applies in a unit near any train station in Sydney. And I don't think you are likely to experience any particular personal risk. The suburbs you have listed are pretty normal, middle/working class suburbs with average crime rates etc.
It is hard to offer any advice based on "safety" as almost all Sydney suburbs are quite safe. For example, if you picked a north shore suburb, they have high rates of DUI. The south west scores higher for domestic violence. The southern suburbs once had an anti-Muslim riot. The cbd had the only terrorist bombing.
It depends what your safety focus is. And I'm not even sure the safety rates vary enough to be worth considering when you buy a house.
For example, I lived in a street with lots of blocks of flats in a 'nice' suburb. My car was broken into several times a year.
I lived for a short time In a less 'nice' suburb that had a lot of public housing. But i had zero issues.
It isn't like Copenhagen versus Beirut. Most places in Sydney have pretty low crime.
Op, you might find a 2 bedroom apartment for around $600k in the North Shore or between the North Shore and Ryde - you don't have to go to Hornsby. It won't be close to a train line, but the advantages are relatively close to the CBD and the location can be surrounded by a leafy green similar to the Blue Mountains and its not too far from the Northern beaches.
If security is an issue, walk around some of the suburbs and you'll appreciate how friendly and safe the area is.
DIU might occur late at night so not an issue in the North Shore unless you intend to drive late at night.
mskeggs, you sure do have a lot to say don't you…
Just some education for you, i have travelled both to Copenhagen and to Beirut on more than one occasion as we have family in both areas and i can say that i did experience a criminal incident in Copenhagen whereas never in Beirut. In fact, Beirut was one of the most enjoyable, relaxing and beautiful cities i have ever been to. So my advice to you is, before you compare places, you should at least have been there once in your life.
Welcome to OzBargain.
You are right, it was a lazy comment, and Beirut isn’t particularly the worst place for security.
You’re also right that I haven’t been there, though I would like to do so. I have been to Copenhagen and found it very safe and predictable.
In my defence, I was seeking a rhetorical example, and when I was growing up, Beirut was in a civil war, and had lots of instability. I recognise that is not the case these days, even after the terrible explosion last year.
I’d also remind you that comment was 5 years ago, and less than 2 months after suicide bombers killed 43 people in Beirut - so it had been recently in the news for some pretty horrible violence, and that might have influenced the comment.
I hope Beirut continues to see improving prosperity and safety.
Wentworthville
Toongabbie
Pendle hill
West mead
These are all suburbs with high migrant community from Indian Subcontinent - NOT SAFE. not becoz of migrants but because of a lot of community housing and lower socioeconomic demographic. However westmead has the biggest hospital in the southern hemisphere so in case anything happens help is pretty close by.
Generally safer in the North of Sydney suburbs and that's why its also much more expensive.
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That's what I was trying to say…..
Not sure it is worth saying.
The northern suburbs have lower rates of assault, for example, but the rate is 1 in 800 versus 1 in 400. Yes, statistically halved, but very rare in either case.
And we can't tell whether that is because most commuter trips in the north are by private car, versus train in the west (for an example). So if you caught the train from Chatswood you might be less safe than a car commuter from Westmead, even though the average rates differ. But don't go too far north because the central coast gets rough too.
I'm not wearing rose coloured glasses. I understand there are violence and safety issues all over, but I would suggest the differential between various middle class Sydney suburbs are not worth worrying about.
There are Sydney locations, and perhaps even whole suburbs where safety is a problem, but these aren't the norm. Nearly everywhere you can live your life with little interference or bother.
And the difference between the bad street in a good suburb and the good street in a bad suburb are substantially larger than any average differences between suburbs.
Whilst I agree there is a high Indian population in those areas, I'd probably categories them as the safest of probably all high migrant communities.
Having said that I lived in Toongabbie for 2 years about 4 years ago and I was attacked by a middle eastern man, however he didn't sound or look Indian, my guess was Pakistani. I was pushing my 6 month old in a pram over the railway crossing after visiting the shops and he approaches me, starts yelling & swearing at me and I just ignore him and keep walking. He then charges me from behind and starts punching me in the ribs, thankful another man on a nearby balcony seen this is starts abusing him; distracting him long enough for me to leg it.
After the incident I moved further west towards the Penrith area near Jamistown - find it a fun affordable and friendly area. Trains are around 50-60 minutes each way.
That's terrible. Sorry can't tell, are u male or female?
Male - I was with my wife at the time but he was only interested in me. It was a shaking experience because I was trying to hardest not to escalate the situation. Im 6'2 and a big guy; it wasn't that I didn't think I could take him down. It was if at any point I did turn the guy could have taken that as a go light and pulled a knife or got a lucky punch and then I wouldnt be able to protect my family. I lost many nights sleep over this, what would/could I had done differently. But whilst what I did was hard simply letting him punch me and keeping my hands on the pram, my family ended up safe and all I had was some nice bruising on my ribs. I hope no one ever has to experience that.
@JH100:
Obviously there would have been a point that I'd have turned. I was covering up the best I could and the only better defense was to take an offense, he was looking for a fight and I wasn't going to give him the green light. I agree I was lucky, however I still maintain had I turned he would have gone 100% fisty cuffs and I couldn't risk escalating the situation when I had my infant child with me. It wasnt like I wasn't watching him like a hawk. It all happened so fast and I didn't want to get into a fight unless it was 100% required. I should also mention it was clear he was off his face on some kinda drugs, taking him down wouldn't have been easy in his current state.
@cypher67: hey just wanna say you're a champ for thinking and protecting your family. I hope the mental scars of this incident will fade away
You're right on not provoking him because he looked drug induced. The other day, I (female) faced a very traumatic experience with a random male on the street. I could have confronted him but I reckon I would have ended up in hospital as he looked like he could give me a coward punch from behind. Anyway, did that guy who assaulted u got arrested and charged?
@Cronut:
Once I was far enough away I called the police, gave details etc and they said they would send a car out. Ended as a major disappointment because I didn't hear anything after the call. No officers came to get my official statement & it wasn't until weeks later that I called up requesting an update because I wanted to officially raise charges against the guy, but th they said they had no record of me making the complaint or even making the call.
Sorry to hear your experience.
That's the problem with policing in NSW and Australia in general. They are more focused on raising revenues instead of looking after it's citizens.
however he didn't sound or look Indian, my guess was Pakistani
WOw,amazing you can tell them apart. What are the differences?!
I have many friends of both nationalities and he was yelling in a different language and it wasnt Hindi. Skin colour and accent are a give away. Despite what most people think, they are pretty easy to tell apart
There are over 1000 languages in India if I'm not correct; it doesn't have to be Hindi to be Indian. Also if I'm not mistaken, there are tons of ethnicities in India; there are 'Chinese' Indians, who are nothing like the real CHinese, as they aren't even Chinese…
What's your idea of an Indian / Pakistani, out of curiosity?
@inose:
He was wearing a shirt that said I <3 Shahid Afridi?
I don't know, it was a guess based on my life experiences having friends from both countries. How about we just leave it at it was a guy.
@inose: Chinese Indians do look like Chinese, I know a few friends.
They do look like one until they speak their accent.
@fm:
I know… That's my point. They only look that, but are Indians, eating curry and butter chicken and doing other "Indian things" rather than Chinese things like making toys and yum cha
Btw I'm not talking about the Chinese immigrants. I'm talking about the real Asian Indians of India, Asia.
Cypher, I applaud you for being able to take the abuse and protect your family. I'm also disappointed that these idiots aren't caught by police & locked up. Unfortunately there's all sorts of these guys out there and I'm just glad you & yours are ok.
I have to interject and say that whilst Indians & Paki's are different, the northern indians & pakistani's are very very similar & much the same - ie. you won't be able to tell them apart.
Example: After the partition of India in 1947 (when Pakistan & India were the same) Sikh's & Hindu's who lived in current Pakistan migrated to India. Muslims who lived in current India migrated to Pakistan. In Pakistan they are called Mujahir's still (migrants) - and most settled in Karachi.
Whilst I agree that the T-shirt with loving Afridi probably explained his nationality, I'm only disagreeing that you can tell a Paki & Indian apart from how they look.
In terms of looks, South Indian's generally are darker & have "richer" features & are the true natives of India. They are similar looking to Sri Lankans. Northern Indians & Paki's are fairer… probably due to assimilation with the "Aryan" bloodline which was theorized to conquer India in 2000BC. (Modern day Iranian's being closest to the "Aryan's" etc…)
I'll stop my history lesson now.. :) (all my opinion btw)
@khomeini:
Haha thanks khomeini, like I said it was just a guess based on appearances of the people I have met & work with etc. If an officer asked me to guess that would be it, but yes there is distinct difference between a lot of nationalities.The T-Shirt part wasn't true, sarcasm doesn't really insert well online. Cheers for history lesson!
Let's hope the scumbag is deported. Trouble is, there's too many left wing lawyers going into bat for all these scumbags.
Perhaps RedKelah is saying any suburb with a large housing commission population ratio may statistically be less safe, possibly due to lower education/socialeconomic proportion. These suburbs are generally cheaper to buy/rent, therefore migrant populations with lower job security/ability to rent/buy tend to live in these suburbs, therefore there may be a casual link between migrant populations and statistically less safe suburbs.
He also means Westmead hospital is a large tertiary trauma hospital. However, we hope you don't get stabbed/shot/run over by DUI in the first place.
Iwtbus1, I'm afraid there is no good answer to your question, it is all about supply and demand. The more favorable the suburb, the higher the costs are.
Good luck, I'm sure you're thinking like this as a provider to your family. Your family is lucky to have you.
Lol western Sydney…
LOL hahahaha
ROFLMAOCOPTER
Redfern or Kingscross are both great places to raise a family !!
I have a few friends in that Toongabbie/Pendle Hill/Wentworthville area. I know one that moved because he was threatened with a knife. I would definitely be more cautious.
Now I'm wondering if OP might just move to Australia for few weeks so he she knows none about all this… It's very very common knowledge, really.
Sorry no offence to any one any suburbs any deputy mayor..
It might just be common knowledge to folks in Sydney. When I was living in Canberra, I didn't know any of this. And to be completely honest, I'm still hazy on the details.
no prob. welcome to sydney!
Thanks buddy. :)
A suburb without a pub. Eg Homebush West - most underated suburb and it has its own train station - Flemington.
Massive traffic issues. Very difficult to get in or out of Homebush West during peak hours or peak Paddy's market hours…
has its own train station - Flemington.
Living in Homebush West, it is super convenient to get to the city, but the environment is not the nicest. Illegal dumping of rubbish on the side walks is so common. The bin room of my unit block is FULL of furniture/random crap because people are too lazy to organise council pick ups. We organise a clean up and the next day, rubbish starts piling up in there again. Walking my dogs, I see a lot of drink bottles left along the streets and on the brick fencing in front of unit blocks.
flemington does have a pub, depending on which side of the station. both side has liquor stores.
Redfern mate, no worries.
Are people suggesting Redfern trolling or has the place changed a real lot since I was last there in the 90's ?
I'm not sure how those comments are in intended, but Redfern definitely has changed a lot.
"Black land for black people!"
thats blacktown mate
Nope; it's in Redfern. You'll see the black and white banner on the Northern Line towards the city. It's been there for… at least a year?
Like seriously, seems like no one has complained; doesn't give a shi!t about it.
I think they are trolling because there is nothing with two bedrooms in Redfern or kings cross worth less than $570000. Kings Cross is very family friendly if you can afford it. Not sure about Redfern.
I was a visitor to Sydney and I found it pleasant - apart from some random drunk aboriginal at the station overtly with their hands in their pants (awkward).
Move to Melbourne!
Your a bit late on the joke sir
Thanks so much for all the inputs everyone.
So no western Sydney, any other good suburbs to buy under 600000?
Central coast line?
Hmmm … Central Coast … aka Mt Druitt by the sea. In the current climiate, your budget is the biggest barrier to getting something in the more 'safer' suburbs in Sydney. Allegedly, Sydney now has 302 suburbs with a median house/unit price of $1 million or over.
The link above also gives you a map of the Sydney suburbs and their median house/unit prices, which might help you in your search.
Ehh. The Central Coast isn't that bad, I've been living here for four years now. It's mostly full of old people and retirees where I am. You get the occasional bogan on the train or at the shopping centre, but mostly there's just sweet little old ladies or old blokes obsessing over golf or gardening.
But I think OPs two hour round trip commute rules it out, the train to central takes between 1 hour and 15 mins to 1 hour and 30mins, depending on which station you would get on at. So you're looking at least three hours for your round trip commute. If you're not going to be getting off at central, you would have to swap at Hornsby, Strathfield or Epping, depending where you want to go, which is going to add time to your commute. There's also the issue of getting to the train station in the morning, there's plenty of buses, and the bigger stations (Woy Woy and Gosford) have parking but you have to be early to get it. But once again, this adds more time to your commute. For example, I leave home at about 7:10 in order to start work at 9am, I finish at 5pm and am home by about 6:40pm, and I don't even work in the city, I work at Macquarie.
Having said that, it is a great area to live, and you see a lot of young families moving up this way. You can buy a decent 3 bed house for $500,000 and be within a 5-10min drive from the beach, you don't have the luxury in western Sydney.
Yeah sorry I was being facetious …the coast does certainly have some beautiful parts to it, but the further inland you go (e.g. wyong, wyee, watanobi, charmhaven, lakehaven etc) the more bogans and undesirables you get. If you stay by the water it's ok, but then apart from Umina and Woy Woy getting to the train station becomes harder - especially if you live north of Terrigal on the coast.
Hi there,
Just wanted to give you a bit of my insight as well. I am a 30yr old guy, indian descent, unmarried and looking to buy a house as well. I have been in Australia since 2001 and lived in the Westmead/Parramatta area for 12 out of 15 years I have been here. And I would love to buy a house in the Parramatta area.
In 12 years, I have heard of a couple of robberies and 2 murders (Parramatta park stabbing and one inside westfield parramatta). I am pretty sure that if you live anywhere that long, you are bound to hear the odd story or two. I have also worked graveyard shifts and walked home from parramatta station and westmead station at 1am and 2am etc. I have never been mugged in all this time or experienced any minor hostility even. But I have been mugged on George St, Townhall at 10pm on a friday night. So if shit's gonna happen, its gonna happen.
I think you need to provide some additional information like what else you are looking for other than safety.
Parramatta has an awesome park, huge network of dedicated cycling routes from Parramatta to Meadowbank and Sydney Olympic park. some of the best schools are not far away (http://bettereducation.com.au/school/secondary/nsw/nsw_top_s…). biggest cbd after city, lots of new developments coming the area to boost property value, good public transport system of trains, buses and ferries and it is a major hub. Lots of good cafes and restaurants, although there are wayyy too many indian ones.
Traffic isnt bad outside peak hours. Roads are nice and wide (fxxk Ashfield streets). the park is great for walking, cycling, quite a few good gyms, westfield, good mix of all nationalites. Date night? Feel middle eastern - go merrylands, indian - go harris park, cant decide - church st, parramatta. like old friendly white ppl? northmead i guess, I dont know where they are, dont see many of them around.
I love it here. Nothing feels far away - not blue mountains, not city, not central coast or the Gong - its a great central location. The multiculturalism feels great. yes, there are anti-social elements, idiots, horror stories and scary terror raids. But I genuinely feel the good outweighs the bad.
Please do take my opinion with a grain of salt since I have not lived anywhere else. I prefer to focus on the little, insignificant things that happen day to day, than the odd crazy event. like, how will living in this suburb affect my time to get to the station, parking on streets, hitting the gym, late night events, dining options, shopping etc.
Whichever place you decide, i reckon you will be alright.
GOOD LUCK WITH THE HOUSE HUNT!!
edit: typos
I don't know much about Pendle Hill or Toongabbie, but I often commute through Westmead/Wentworthville and they're honestly not the safest of places. Westmead has a great hospital, but I generally don't trust any surrounding suburbs of Parramatta.
I've lived in the Hills for the past 10 years and in my opinion, it is probably the safest place in Sydney that is reasonably accessible to other major suburbs (CBD, Parra, Macquarie, Epping, etc.). Public transport can be tricky because it's entirely buses (until the train line is finished) but I have never, ever felt unsafe even at the dead of night. It takes about an hour depending on where in the Hills you live to get to the city (I live very close to the M2 so it takes me a little over half an hour). I would recommend Carlingford (which I technically think is part of Parramatta Council now?), West Pennant Hills, Baulkham Hills and Castle Hill.
Avoid the south side of Carlingford (the part in Parramatta Council, near the train station and Pennant Hills Rd). The neighbouring suburbs, Telopea and Dundas Valley, have large numbers of housing commission blocks and undesirable tenants.
Can confirm areas around Pennant Hills/Castle Hill are safe and friendly suburbs. I live in Cherrybrook and I often walk home from the bus stop (15 minute walk) at 1-2am with minimal street lights and earphones in and haven't been rolled/stabbed yet. But with OP's budget, you're going to need to look over at Dural or a bit further up.
That budget won't get you anywhere near Dural. Apart from the caravan park.
Yeah Baulkham Hills and Castle Hill would have to be one of the safest suburbs in Sydney, but it is getting pricey. Winston Hills is good too, slightly cheaper too.
2 hours commuting to where?
Central station.
Crikey I've just discovered that whenever I stay in Sydney it's in the most dangerous area.
"The analysis revealed Leichhardt LGA as the city's most dangerous area to live. It recorded the highest incidence of break and enter, malicious damage to property, vehicle theft and theft from home or car in the two years to September 2012.
In this time, 95 in every 1000 people living in one of the area's suburbs including Annandale, Balmain and Leichhardt had property damaged."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/shire-tops-suburbs-with-low…
Don't houses in those areas have windows with grills? I know a friend who stays in Glebe and all their windows have grills
Times change though.. It's not uncommon to see older houses with window bars and newer houses without.
Nowadays people use the door for break & entry…
You could try an apartment on the upper north shore, although $570k would only get you a rather run down place.
Buy a Rottweiler.
You can get a two bedroom unit in Hornsby within a 10 min walk to the station, for around 570k - will be an older style one in a 1970/80s block, but perfectly usable. One just sold in our building for 575k, was renovated. From Hornsby its a 40 min express ride to the city.
https://www.realestate.com.au/property/6-76-80-hunter-st-hor…
This.
I think this is the option for OP.
Great and safe north shore suburb, big westfield, express train to the city.
I don't know if this will help. But here is the Crime Map Tool from NSW Bureau of Crime.
http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/