VIC Advice on moving to Melbourne CBD

I am seeking some advice on buying or renting an apartment in Melbourne CBD due to lifestyle and work changes.

If buying looking at spending around $550,000 for 2 bed, 1 bathroom, 1 car space. If renting I have no idea because everything looks ridiculously inflated for what is on offer.

Areas considering that are in my means include suburbs like South Melbourne and Docklands. I will be working in St Kilda and the person I'll be living with works in Port Melbourne.

I currently live in an owned property in Altona North, VIC and have one investment property in Sydenham, VIC. Considering selling one to buy in city or possibly leave them tenant occupied. I'm not a huge fan of having lots of outstanding mortgages or obsessed with investment.

Does anyone have any advice for me on moving to Melbourne CBD based on my situation? Suburbs to stay away from for any reason? Docklands is appealing...

 

The Docklands is a quite a wind tunnel and doesn't have much in the way of facilities. There are also often annoying waits for trams to get out of the Docklands.

Where you want to "live" is a lifestyle choice and part of this is related to the commute to your CURRENT job. Keep in mind you might not be in that job forever. If you are looking to BUY it is a really bad idea to buy a property to live in based entirely on the job you currently have. You would want to reasonably assume that there are many other jobs you could get near the property if you needed to change your job.

Something to be really wary of with CBD apartments is firstly build quality (walls can be super thin and you can hear everything your neighbours get up to) and also oversupply. If you ever wanted to sell or rent out your property you can have loads of competition in a highrise. Also be aware of body corporate fees. In the highrise you're paying for the ongoing costs of operating the gym, elevator, hallway lighting, swimming pool etc etc.

 

Thanks for the response, really appreciate it. Will have to keep that point about build quality in mind. I've heard about Docklands being a wind tunnel, but is it much worse than inner CBD apartments if you kept to lower levels?

I work in IT and although one can find jobs outside of the city I find that the better ones are always in the CBD or St Kilda. Same goes for the family member I'll be living with. It's a big reason why we're looking at moving amongst a couple of other reasons.

 

Hi Daniel

Yes the wind tunnel is a big deal. I worked in the Docklands for a year and dreaded the commutes and lunchtimes. Winter was horrid. Combining that with lack of facility i don't see any appeal. Southbank is near useful and nice things.. particular the cluster around Clarendon St due to its proximity to the waterfront. Walkable to city and so close to Port Melbourne and South Melbourne. Location-wise it's a goodie. Whether it is smart to sell the properties you have to purchase a city apartment is a separate matter.

 

Hey Daniel, Regardless of area you finally choose to live in, don't buy now if you can. Always good to rent first and be sure it's an area you are happy with. Also information going around, that there will be a mass oversupply of apartments in the Melbourne CBD once construction finishes by 2017.
If your happy with the city after renting you should be able to pick is something less than today's prices.

 

Docklands is a huge no - nothing to do and property is drastically overvalued. I personally would not touch Sth Melb either.

Try Footscray, look around middle footscray station, great place to live, good food and door to door in no time. There are still reasonably priced apartments in the area and any young professionals have moved there due to the proximity to the city.

Cheers Ivan

 

docklands is terrible, both as an actual area to live in and definitely financially to buy in. it's like they decided to look at what makes melbourne the great city it is, what perhaps could have been done better (eg southbank) and then proceeded to pick the worst bits of everything. soulless, lifeless, wind tunnel that also, as a bonus, is oversupplied and therefore bad investments too. i'd rate buying there somewhere in between gently cupping mick gatto's nuts and lending ben cousins a fiver in terms of bad ideas.

sounds lik you're not quite sure, why not rent in an area you think you might enjoy? if you do buy, how long do you think this property will suit you for? are you planning on having kids etc anytime soon? transaction costs are too high for you to do buy and sell every few years when circumstances change.

FWIW though, im not a melbourne local or expert, but general consensus does seem to be that there is/will be an oversupply of cbd apartments so i wouldnt recommend buying one anyway unless there's a big point of difference.

 

I'm biased but after seven years here I am still very happy living in Docklands. The negatives are as previous posters have said: windy, much colder in the winter than the thermometer would suggest and it's been a rubbish place for property values - I bought my place in 2007 and if I sold now, after expenses I'd be lucky to do much more than break even. With so much new stock coming on the market, I doubt whether this will change. So if you want to live in Docklands, rent and buy an IP somewhere else.

As for the plusses, I live in what I reckon to be the best location, Victoria Point, next to Etihad. Tram stops outside (free tram zone) and a block away on Collins, SX station and SkyBus a short walk across the footbridge, Etihad next door (if you're not sport dead like me), shops, eateries, supermarket, post office, pharmacy, GP, library all a few minutes walk away. And if you don't need a car every day, lots of car share cars around.

 

Althought i wouldn't buy an apartment now but if it was me, i would be buying somewhere in Spring Street. Easier to rent stone throw from parliament station, close to carlton and the gardens and also in the "free tram zone" hence no need to pay for travel. and for airbnb purposes easy as well. It may not be a capital growth but for cash flow purposes. Many people do not realize that there are a lot of corporate renters out there. i rented out a 2 bedder apartment fullly furnished 4 years ago for 1K a week to a corporate client who worked in QV for 1.5 years guaranteed

South melbourne is ok to buy as well near the markets - and prices are always stable I would stay away from docklands and other parts of the city unless you have a particular strategy. i understand where you're coming from as people who work in IT have to be on-call to support operations. Nearly all IT jobs are located in southbank, CBD or docklands from the IBM, BHP, sensis, NAB, ANZ, BHP etc

 

There's an episode of the Simpsons where Bart sells his soul to Millhouse, things get a little weird for him after that. This is Docklands. In theory it's got everything you need, but there's still something missing which you can never really put your finger on.

If you want to live there, rent. There's one general location that the experts all agree will stagnate or decline in value over the next few years, which is Dockands and Southbank. Rental vacancy rates are quite high, you should be able to negotiate on price as well.