Hello,
I'm looking to buy a house in the Melbourne South East suburb. My budget is $500K. I am unfamiliar with this part of the city as I'm new to Melbourne. May I have some suggestions on which suburbs are safer ? I have seen a few houses in Hallam, Hampton park and Cranbourne North which fits my budget.
You are referring to the outer East/Sth East. The safer, inner suburbs would require you to double or triple your budget for a 2 bedroom house. I'm not familiar with the suburbs you have mentioned, other than driving through them, but the nickname for Cranbourne is Crimebourne, take from that what you will.
It's strange, in America people refer to the "inner-city poor" living in dangerous, high crime areas. Here in Oz the poor live in outer suburbia, which is higher in crime. Australia in more like Paris is that aspect, with the immiersiated impoverished folk living in government housing in the 'banlieues' (never been to gai Paris, just read about the situation there, so my depth of knowlegde is not ideal).
In Paris, the areas you are referring to are essentially a ring of public housing blocks. That’s a different kind of poor to people who can still afford to own a house. If you can afford to own a house you’re not poor.
Let me guess, you live in an inner suburb?
The inner city poor of USA is closer to commission housing in Aus rather than outer suburbia.
We have the same problems here in some inner city suburbs, however our government wasn't stupid enough to create large areas of 'ghettos' where all the welfare people are concentrated, they are much better spread throughout the city.
The inner city gentrification is a reasonably new thing in Aus, many of the inner city Sydney properties were effectively slums, with high rates of crime. I would say the difference in the US is the maintenance of social housing density in those areas. I believe now Australia has a better distribution of social housing among more suburbs, rather than having large high density social housing.
Like Burnertoasty said, Cranbourne itself is Crimebourne, but Cranbourne North is fine, as long as its within those new estate. As those are usually new families..etc. I live in Cranbourne North for 10 years in a new estate and have been pretty safe.
You've lived there for 10 years yet still call it a new estate.
In housing terms that's still quite new,isnt it?
In dog terms that's nearing the end of the innings.
Not if you're buying.
I lived there too. Agree 100%.
May as well buy something in footscray. At least you will be close to the city..
A house in Footscray for $500K?
When's the last time you been to Footscray? Full of hipsters these days
Oh man, there are now hipster cafes around here. Upmarket restaurant too (but it's always empty around lunch)
annoying as they might be, I don't think hipsters are the crime committing type.
half a decade ago..
Which part of Footscray is full of hipsters? We drove over a few weeks back for lunch, walked along Hopkins St while eating our rolls and I'm fairly sure we were the only aussies in a hundred meter radius.
You assume only Aussies are hip? There is a difference between Hippies and Hipsters. Hipsters bathe.
Hipsters don’t go in inner Footscray. They’re too cool for that 😂
footscrazy is full of africans too, no?
Yep. Wouldn't pay any actual money to be there. Wouldn't get caught there after dark either.
@Maxxjet: The Victorian government needs to double down on its cooked crime statistics now. Over the last decade violent crime has gone parabolic. Over the last year overall crime rates dropped by a few decimals of a percent. Understandably, there were many handshake photo opportunities between the premier and his police goons.
Finding a "safe suburb" is nearly irrelevant. I've lived in Fitzroy for 25 years and never been a victim of crime, whereas my car was vandalised when we were in South Yarra and Malvern. It is more about the property and your own habits. Have the right locks and security systems, own a dog, have entry points visible to the street, garage your car, dont flash your money around, etc. Most of the time you just have to be unlucky to be a victim.
Fitzroy is one of the most upmarket suburbs in the north or north east of the city these days. The only crime you get in that area is the amount of BMX X5's driven around the area clogging up the roads, and the rent they charge hipsters.
I own my own home and bought when prices were merely outrageous rather than completely ridiculous. We drive a 10 year old A Class, which rarely makes it out of the garage. If you look at the chart Yarra council is still considered a high crime area, but it depends on what is the majority of the crimes. The thing we find hilarious is most of the hipster places we go to play the music of our youth; who knew two old IT nerds were the cool ones :).
Some more ideas: Use crushed rocks in front of windowed areas (maximum noise walking on it), plant prickly rose bushes in front of windows, don't have dense foliage blocking the view of the house from the street, have a deadbolt in addition to the standard lock, re-enforce the frame of your front door, upgrade your front door if it's not solid, consider window dressings (decorative but functional ones unless you want to feel like you're in jail), don't leave a spare key under the mat/in a fake rock, don't have a side gate (or if you do make it extra secure), consider spikes for fences/gates which can be climbed over, don't be afraid to make your security cameras visible (opportunists will burgle your neighbor instead).
Buy a paper shredder and shred any important documents, bills etc. which could be used for identity theft. Cross shred and dispose of in multiple bins/lots if possible.
Don't write your passwords down, use encryption on your computer, use a password manager so you don't reuse passwords, use common sense when browsing the internet.
All of the above, plus buy a BIG dog bowl and put it near the front door - Not necessary to actually 'have' the dog.
My grandmother (who lived alone) used to have a pair of men's large work boots near the front door as well.
Maybe your grandma was getting lucky :).
It's sad that we need to live like this. I miss the old days when you could leave your doors unlocked and your car too (with the keys inside it).
Liberals say we are progressing, but really we're progressing in the wrong direction.
Which liberals do you speak of?
Frankston. Can’t go wrong.
Frankston has actually cleaned itself up a bit. Still lots of "dodgy" areas or streets, but as a whole it is far improved than 10-20 years ago.
Still lots of dodgy people hanging around the the city centre yelling at each other.
Nothing compared to Richmond or St Kilda.
@Typical16-bitEnjoyer: You haven't been to Richmond in awhile.
I haven't been to St Kilda for 10 years so can't comment.
@serpserpserp: Richmond is literally the only place I've seen a drug deal in public - multiple times.
They operate with impunity. I've seen a guy literally just crouch in the street and open his backpack, full of deal bags, and search through, take out what he was selling, and openly exchange it for cash on the street in the middle of the afternoon.
I lived in Frankston 15 years and never once saw anything close to this.
@picklewizard: Richmond attracts the entire city's drug crime, it isn't just the locals.
If they try to stamp it out, it would spread the problems to other suburbs.
@Typical16-bitEnjoyer: Just say "no". It is annoying but they don't hassle you once you say "no". Personally I find the touts outside restaurants in Lygon St more annoying.
@Typical16-bitEnjoyer: lol ok you'll get asked everywhere on a Saturday night. Melbourne generally has a problem with this in all areas of nightlife.
Frankston is a beautiful suburb. The people who live there though…
Frankston. Can’t go wrong.
…and those were his very last words
Good place if you're looking to get robbed at knifepoint.
Probably steer clear of Hallam and Hampton Park. Some of the newer estates in Cranbourne North are okay.
If you don't mind going another 10 minutes out have a look at Officer, pretty much all new estates.
Pakenham
Pakenham does have better crime stats than Cranbourne and Hampton Park and fits the budget
I don't know, I've been seeing a lot of news about crime in Pakenham lately, but much like most suburbs in the south-east, I suppose it has both 'good' parts and bad.
beaconsfield (might be a stretch on the budget).. otherwise pakenham, belgrave/tecoma/upwey/the patch/mooroolbark could be options to consider if safety is a priority
Toorak
Can one buy an outhouse for $500k in Toorak?
He forgot to add few millions in $500k.
That's only if you want a vanity. I'll do with a barebones outhouse.
Yes
I'm in. Please send me link. Hope they have AfterPay.
@iforgotmysocks: Still too good to pass up.
I'm sold.
In fact, I'll give out an extra $100k for your trouble. I work on a whaling ship (purely scientific) and cannot access my account from here. I'll need to send it to you via a different name. Just have your agents sign over the deed to my holding company on receipt of payment.
Wrong state mate.
I knew someone (now deceased) who.lived in Toorak most her adult life having bought a home for around $40k sometime around the 1930s. Imagine that. Needless to say when it sold about 7 years ago the value had increased almost 70x. She used to say that people said she was mad for buying it and she paid too much for it.
$40k was still a lot of money back then.
There's an old mansion that was in disrepair just down the road. It was sold after both parents died tragically. The kids were in their late teens and didn't want to live next to the docks so they sold up, split the proceeds and parted ways.
This lady is one of the kids, I believe she has passed as I met her years ago and she was close to a hundred. She said they got $8,000 for it some 80-90 years ago.
The block was split into over a dozen (from memory, closer to two dozen). Each of the blocks sold for ~$1.5m land only. The subdivision was withing the last 5 years.
Life eh?
40k in the 1930s could probably buy many houses elsewhere (hard to say exactly as they used pounds back then)
She benefits from no capital gains, but I'm sure 5 houses further out in Mt Waverley, Clayton, Oakleigh etc would be worth much more than 4 million
All sounds great in theory but the modern day equivalent would be to sell up your bayside townhouse and use the money to buy a couple of acres out in Gisborne or Wodonga. In 100 years the land value out there will possibly skyrocket as land gets even tighter and populations soar.
We had friends who, many years ago, looked at a run down place in Richmond. The real estate agent, tongue in cheek, called it “north Toorak”; there was a dead rat in the cupboard.
Cool story bro, tell me more.
There was also dust on the shelves, you should have seen it.
@brendanm: Believe me the places they were looking at had more issues than "dust on the shelves". The place they ended up buying had a lean-to shed as their bathroom.
@brendanm: Completely agree with that. People should buy in places that suit them and that they can afford. We were dead lucky we managed to find a place that suits us so well in a location we really like.
Their budget was tiny, it just amused them that the real estate agent was taking such liberties. Although I did hear of a place in Melbourne that was advertised as having distant glimpses of Sydney Harbour.
The late, extremely great, John Clarke did a sketch about Real Estate agents which is hilarious.
With that budget I would focus on finding the right house first, then investigate whether it's on a good street, neighbours, local shops etc.
Hallam, Hampton park and Cranbourne North are all relatively safe and nice. There are pockets of real crap streets however - as with all the suburbs in the surrounding area.
define safe? are you planning on walking home or are you more concerned with your property being broken into? with the new estates like clyde,cranbroune north, there has been a huge amount of car breaking and thief from tradie utes.
can $500k even get you a house anywhere near melbourne these days?
property market is overinflated and will keep inflating because it can't do anything else. real estate agents, mortgage lenders are all making a healthy income by bending the laws when it comes to illegal foreign investment.
If you have the option of a cheap house in an expensive suburb or an expensive house it a cheap suburb.
Always go with the cheap house (rich neighbors won't rob you and criminals avoid the whole area due to sophisticated alarm systems).
I suggest buying somewhere other than Melbourne with $500k
You won't find much in the new estates in Cranbourne North within your budget. Maybe a crummy place in Hallam or Hampton Park.
$500k will get you a nice, newer house in officer or Clyde without going too much further away from the areas you've mentioned.
Lookin forward to the housing crash. Wouldn't mind picking up a few $125k houses.
Yep, that's great. That was approx the median price 25 years ago.
The crash that was supposed to happen every year for the last 10 years?
Dreaming if you think crash will happen.
Deflation yes, but unless the China/US crisis escalates to military action, a crash wont happen
Unfortunately crime is on the rise in those areas you mentioned plus many more.
My personal opinion - Melbourne used to be a safe city but is not anymore. Bashings, car jackings, home invasions, there was even an axe attack in the CBD earlier this year.
I'd recommend moving out into the country if you want to be safe.
Yes, please move out and let me buy your property cheaply. I'm willing to take the risk I will be a victim of crime in Melbourne in order to have a house that will continue to appreciate, substantially, in price in the long run. Especially if it is twinned with good public transport, great restaurants, and good amenities.
If you have a look at the per capita crime rate you will see that Latrobe and the Wimmera have fairly high crime rates. As I said before, you have to be unlucky to be a victim of crime and I refuse to live in fear of that small likelyhood.
Stop watching Today Tonight.
Also stop reading the Herald Sun.
I'd recommend moving out into the country if you want to be safe.
Couldn't be more wrong.
So many weirdos and predators in the country. Perhaps in a town under 8,000 you might be ok, but generally the larger towns on Victoria have just as much wrong with them then in the places in the city.
Bashings, car jackings, home invasions, there was even an axe attack in the CBD earlier this year.
Interesting you mention this because the small town I did high school in had a number of bashings, home invasions (a guy in my class even barricaded himself in his ex-girlfriend's house and threaten to kill her he had a shotgun (and a axe funnily enough!) Big stance off with the cops for half a day but it didn't make the state wide news because it is in a nowhere town and resolved safely.
I won't even go into the problems of underage drinking/violence, prominent members of school communities (of the religious type) grooming underage girls (or teachers having sexual encounters with students) and general domestic violence which is kept under wraps. The sorry thing about country life after you live in it for a long time is yes, you get to know your towns folk, but you also get to know all the skeletons in their closet too.
From memory crime stats are way down, it's just the media that's blowing things out of proportion.
We built a new home in Clyde north ~8 months ago (total cost ~430k for a small 3 bedroom) Apart from a neighbour hanging themselves (his wife left him :/ go figure) we have had 0 problems at all.
Just don't bury the dead cat in the Pet Sematary at the back.
Apart from a neighbour hanging themselves (his wife left him :/ go figure) we have had 0 problems at all.
I fail to see how that could be considered your problem.
Can you link me the property? I am looking to invest
It was already scooped up by an investor and has a for rent sign. It only happened 6-8 weeks ago :/
Can you put some trump posters in your back yard?
@Melong: Yup, that will just leave Billy Bob and his six cars up on bricks. Which is five more teeth than he has.
Clyde north
Mark my words, but suburbs like Clyde North with their super tiny lot sizes will be the future ghettos of Melbourne.
Agree, I live in Berwick and have driven around a couple of the estates, amazes me how the owners get those big tradie utes down some of the footpaths they call streets, particularly as many seem permanently lined with neighbors utes parked at the side of the footpath.
https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/explore-crime-by-loca…