Buying Next to Railway

G'day guys!

Just wanted to get your thoughts on buying I.P adjacent to railways? Property I was considering is a ground floor unit in the Inner West of Sydney, with living room with balcony directly facing railway lines.

I was initially interested, although upon further advice decided against it, due to the possibility of vacancies and/or renters turning away because of the noise from commuter and fright trains that pass through?

Do other investors out there hold properties near/directly near rail? Does this sound like a valid reason for letting this one go...?

Apart from the above, it predominately ticked all my boxes.

 

I can't think of any good reasons to buy right above/next to a rail line. You'll find something else to tick your boxes soon enough.

 

If you buy at a significant discount to other properties it can be ok, but you may find the same at time of resale and it won't sell as fast. Tenants will likely move out after their leases are up too (quicker than usual).

 

Avoid

Noise will turn potential tenants off.

Valuers will stuff up future equity pulls when they give it lower liveability ratings.

 

Depends on the price, everything has the price.

You are going to get it cheap (most likely) compared to a unit 200m away from the train station in comparison but everything has its price.

However I would likely avoid it being on top of the tracks. I would rather spend the extra 20-30% (pulling a number out of my ***) and have a better quality product.

 

You will always going to have issues with tenants when renting and purchasers when selling. Also consider the type of tenants you will attract at the discounted market rates. Through in a dash of potential over supply and smorgasbord of units on the market and you have got yourself and potential recipe for disaster.

My recommendation on stuff like this is to always order an upfront valuation and look at the valuers comments carefully - they play an important part in the finance process and if they think it stinks then so will the lender. You may get lucky with one valuer but you may not have the same luck in the future when you go to pull out any available equity.

 

No railway rattlers!

 

If it is a commercial unit then it could well have a benefit
I have had railway sidings going into my units and that would only been possible by the rail lines running next to my site. (2.9ha)

 

Commercial next to a railway line is a big advantage

Residential is a big disadvantage. And you will never overcome that.

 

For the inner west, I'd prefer plane noise over train noise. At least they stop between 2300-0600

 

Appreciate everyones responses! Confirmed my suspicions and thanks for the great advice.

 

Hey guys, what do you think it's actually too close to the rail line? 200m? I'm considering a property that's pretty close the rail way, but a bit hard to judge from Google map.

 

Anything closer than one block is no good

 

Thanks a lot Ross. I think that's a deal breaker for the property I was considering. There are no blocks in between.

 

I just came back from a visit to a duplex located beside a freeway and regional beoadcast TV mast. Constant road noise but quiet inside.

The place would still be worth around $1.8 but 10-15% less than properties a street or two further away.

 

My understanding is that trains in Brisbane are quite slow and not very noisy. You wouldn't agree?

 

Err... Sure? No idea

 

Definately not. They are loud.
My kallangur property is ~550m from the train station and I could hear it clear as day when standing outside. Not as loud as Sydney trains, but they are certainly not 'not very noisy'.

 

This makes it really hard then. So what is the ideal distance, 500-1000m?

 

Not sure about ideal distances but beware some lines service heavy rail as well.

Also rail noise might be not as loud on straight run of tracks as opposed to curves due to wheel squeal. Around crossings and stations you have horn blasts as well.

For rail noise impacts, you can check 'spp interactive mapping' (SPP Interactive Mapping System).

Under administrative layers there you can turn on the 'noise corridor - rail network' layer. This will show you areas where new developments are required to be designed to mitigate rail noise impacts.