NSW Advice on PPOR

Hello, I've been following this forum for quite some time and would like some advice if possible.

My partner and I (early 30s) have been actively looking for property for about 10 months (although I've been browsing for years) and during that time we've looking at various suburbs such as Ashfield/Summer Hill/general inner west, Kogarah, Wolli Creek, Rhodes/Meadowbank/West Ryde area.

Our budget is 800k max.

We quite like Rhodes area as it is close to shops, quick/express train to the city where we both work (although working from home at the moment), seems like a safe suburb and we can see ourselves living there as we enjoy riding bikes and walking (the river views are nice). Previously we thought we were priced out of the suburb but a property came up (2/2/1, north facing) that we are considering making an offer.

My concern about the suburb is the lack of schools (we're thinking about potentially having a child soon) which may mean we may need to move possibly and potentially rent this place out or sell it. However, research shows that the demand for the area is quite low and I've seen selling/renting listings go on for quite a while (180-300 days sometimes for selling based on corelogic data and rental for 50+ days). Is this something we need to think about now? We've also had ideas about potentially moving to NZ when the child is a bit older.

We're quite tired of looking and think we have found the one (that's good enough), just I'm just unsure whether we are making a good financial decision.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

 

There's a lot of supply in an area like Rhodes, and limited demand, in both sales and rentals (especially rentals which are impacted by student populations, newer developments etc). This means that capital growth prospects may not be as good.

I have a management in Rhodes and agree that its a nice suburb with good transport links and parklands/riverside (although very dense). However would you be better renting there? When you take into account strata, council, water, maintenance, it may be cheaper and more flexible for you to rent and purchase a property in a less dense suburb closer to the city with better growth prospects.

 

Just wondering. Can you buy a townhouse in any areas you like with your $800k budget? Or, spinning the question around, with an $800k budget where can you buy a townhouse that has good accessibility to trains? You can buy a Townhouse in Macquarie Park right now for that budget, it's close to Mac Uni, Epping Boys High and the shopping centre and its ok for trains (use a pushbike to go faster).

Developers can keep building apartment blocks everywhere which may keep a lid on capital growth of units and apartments, but there is a scarcity of land, and a townhouse has some land component.

 

Excess supply is usually an issue in Rhodes/Meadowbank/West Ryde (have a play around with www.dsrdata.com.au).

For affordability, Kogarah is a good option (intended to join up with Bankstown and Parramatta as a healthcare and hospitals corridor).

If schools are a priority, look further at Summer Hill. It is tightly held, but you should be able to do something there within your budget. I bought in Summer Hill for a client only a few weeks ago.

 

Hello, thanks for your words of advice everyone~

Mel, perhaps renting is a wiser decision - I guess we've been looking for so long, we just want to make a place of our own (potentially do some minor renovations) and not have to move around too much. I'll definitely consider this though as the search becomes more diresome.

Gockie, we briefly looked in Macquarie Park (not very familiar with the area however) - a lot of the townhouses were quite a walking distance away from trains/metro, ideally looking for under 15minute walk to the station. It does look like a nice leafy suburb with good schools and amenities though.

Summer Hill was at our top of the list of suburbs previously, but the apartments in our price range seemed lacking (ground floor, which we're not too keen on), haven't seen much supply generally in the area and previous to COVID, was always priced out, but will definitely be keeping an eye on.

Kogarah perhaps we can look into again, it is a bit far from our inlaws (inner west and western sydney) but understand that it has potential growth if we wanted to move out or upgrade later.

 

It's a good time to take another look at the inner west. For eg, this doesn't have 2 bathrooms but it's significantly under your budget, classic 70s walk-up block - elevated ground floor. Leafy area, access to good schools, train and easy access to city off Parra rd, Summer Hill or Haberfield PS are top primary schools. Sydney Secondary College has a campus in Leichhardt.
https://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-nsw-summer+hill-133402526
I was looking in that area in late 2016 and couldn't find anything at that price. Dulwich Hill might also be good to look at with the light rail, if you're looking for newish - there's new devs with 2 baths available but wouldn't recommend these for growth but they are closer to the city than Rhodes.