Capital City guides, Sydney, Adelaide etc

Been looker for a rough guide on each of the capital cities. Sort of like a summary. Can't find anything? I'd appreciate it if we could get summaries from each of the capitals from "natives" in those cities. Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Hobart, Brisbane, Darwin

Anyway these are generalizations.

I will post this as I am a Sydney person.
Central: Booming CBD, fast becoming an international city, becoming more and more internal etc. Surrounded by suburbs (I really do consider them to be part of the city myself as they are so close) such as Surry Hills, Ultimo, Pyrmont etc That are also booming from the urban expansion of the city center. Commercial property is mostly retail and offices (of course).

East: Many bastions of old money. Known for its wealthy suburbs. Record property prices. E.g. Point Piper, Double Bay, Vaucluse. Arguably includes the famous Bondi. No industry.

South: Beaches. Airport. More suburbs. Holsoworthy barracks takes up a lot of land. Royal national park forms a boundary to further land development. Some industrial areas.

North: Beaches. Leafy suburbs. Perceived as wealthy for the most part, but less so than the east. Industrial areas confined mostly to NW.

West: Relatively ALOT of development going on here. Especially further out west and in the South West. Lowest prices to be found here, e.g. Camden, Campbelltown, Liverpool and Penrith etc
Inner West, like the alot of the inner Sydney suburbs (ie Lower North shore) house prices are typically 1.5-2.5M. Largest LGAs in Sydney. Many suburbs. Industrial zoning not uncommon.

In summary: I find that Sydney is like many different places in one. Areas of Sydney can be so radically different from others you would think they might be different countries if you didn't hear people speaking. Really great City overall. Incredibly varied place.

NESW all contain suburbs perceived as affluent.

 

Here is Darwin summary

Wait a bit longer then move in for the kill!!
Still better places to invest imo

Palmerston area forget it fondly called palmerscum and palmerslum lots of newer areas land for miles and miles infrastructure slowly catching up making it more desirable but ages from nice beaches

Near the water nicer areas Fannie bay Nightcliff Darwin waterfront would be the only places I'd buy in d town

Further to go down though they try to hype that it was going up and is on the rise it's not

 

There's a whole collection of Adelaide guides here ; adelaide suburb review | PropertyChat

 

I'll jump in with a very quick and general summary of Adelaide for you (all my opinion only of cource):

East: considered blue chip, best for capital growth, lowest rental yields, most affluent part of Adelaide metropolitan area, highest buy in prices, land locked by CBD and Adelaide hills, mainly big blocks, character homes, leafy streets, low level of infill development as councils seek to maintain character of the suburbs.

City: offices and apartments both oversupplied (and likely to stay that way for a very long time).

West: land locked by city and sea, lots of redevelopment going on, lots of 1950's homes on 700m sq blocks being split into 2 courtyards, ok capital growth, average yields, think 'blue collar worker types'.

South: Inner south (think within 10km to CBD) very similar to West,'blue collar worker types' lots of infill development, Far South is lower socioeconomic area, some pockets of 'scum bags' suburbs, low for capital growth, medium - high rental yields.

North; Inner Nth again think within 10km of CBD is similar as inner Sth and West as above. Far Nth is the lowest socioeconomic area of greater metro Adelaide, heaps of available land far north, low for capital growth, highest rental yields, lots of 'scum bag' suburbs.

 

A Big Darwin Summary....

At this very moment, it's hard to recommend Darwin for investors. All the economic indicators are saying nasty things, people are leaving town, real estate has crashed and unemployment is rising. The big gas plant still has another year or two to go....and until it has moved to production phase it wont be clear what the economy is really doing. Approach with caution.

That being said... if you're after a PPOR then things are now looking pretty good. The price has dropped by at least 20 percent across the board, unemployment is still very low and most jobs are well paid. You can confidently low ball any purchases and get even more of a discount. Asking prices are still high, but the reality is that nothing is moving unless it is priced properly. Sellers are now starting to wake up to this.

In terms of Layout...Darwin is Divided into 3 pieces....City + Surrounds, The Northern Subhurbs and Palmerston.

City + Surrounds. CBD is filled with High rise units, most of which are empty. It's a Disaster and should be avoided...Unless you score a deal of the Century. Even then a high rise is often still poor value due to the strata costs.

However, surrounding the city is the closest thing Darwin has to Blue Chip suburbs.
Parap, Stuart Park, Larrakeyah, The Gardens and Fannie Bay are filled with stunning houses and Townhouses. You've still got to pick your spot as itinerants can make life difficult, but generally speaking these are the most desirable parts of town to live as they are close to all amenities, the best schools and work. There is some great value in this area at the moment as well. Houses with large blocks are still expensive and belong to old Darwin. There isn't a great yield on these houses but they are lovely (if you have the coin) to live in. They all have great development potential too.

Townhouses and Duplexes have been unfairly smashed due to all the apartments in the CBD destroying the rental market...which is a great thing if you want to buy BMV as these should be far more rentable in the future...

Northern Suburbs. Most people in Darwin live here...and with good reason. Easy access to the city, good Busses, Casurina shopping centre the Uni and the Nightcliff Foreshore make life pretty sweet. Everything is maximum a 15 minute drive away. The Northern Suburbs are filled with mostly large houses on 700m+ Blocks as well as a few low rise unit blocks and Townhouses, however I can't recommend units and townhouses out here simply because you may as well buy them in the blue chip areas (they cost the same at the moment).

Houses out here come in more-or less two different flavors...Elevated or Single level. Elevated houses are far, far more desirable as they are designed for the tropics.
The single level houses can be much hotter...but are also much cheaper. All the basic stuff like orientation, louvers, gardens etc can make a huge difference to the temperature inside the house and needs to be considered. Cooler houses are nearly always more expensive. Any blocks over 1000m2 will soon be sub dividable too.

The Closest parts to the City (Rapid Creek, Millner, Jingili, Nightcliff and Coconut Grove) are the most desirable, however around the Nightcliff Woolies is full of government housing and is THE PITS!! You've also got to be mindful of the Flood maps here. Most of Coconut Grove goes underwater in a cyclone and half of Millner goes under as well....If you buy anything in or even near a flood zone, expect to pay eye-watering Insurance premiums (like 5-10k pa).

The areas around Casurina are solid performers due to the employment hubs of Casurina and the University. There are a few housing commission homes sprinkled through this area, but it is gentrifying quickly. There is some great value buying in and around this area. Leanyer deserves a special mention as it is built on a swamp. You've never experienced mozzies until you have been to a BBQ in Leanyer....

Karama and Malak are generally rougher areas. There are some serious social issues in large part of these suburbs. There are some good spots too if you know where to look...but generally the reality and the stigma keep this area's pricing subdued.

Palmerston - Palmerston is a satellite city created once they realized that Darwin was more or less chokkas. It is much newer than Darwin and will at some point be the future of the city. Houses out here are much newer and cheaper that Darwin. Expect at least a 100k lower price.

There is still a lot of work out here, New shopping centres going up, a new hospital, a new abattoir and lots of industry. It's out here you'll also find lots of young families who buy new H + L packages with generous help from the Government. These generous H + L Packages have effectively put paid to any capital growth and Palmerston, along with the CBD is ground zero for the current housing crash. For a prospective buyer, Palmerston does offer some fantastic value, but you've really got to know where to look.

There are huge swathes of Palmerston with broken families, kids running amok at night, high crime rates etc....Moulden, Woodroofe, Gray and most of Driver are really rough and give rise to the term "Palmerslum". However the Northern parts, (Gunn, Durack and most of Bakewell) are great and these suburbs probably provide the best value in Darwin.

In terms of House and Land packages....Zuccoli is a huge development currently underway providing very cheap homes for FHB. All of these houses are cookie cutter designs on 300m2 blocks fresh from Melbourne that are guaranteed to keep the aircon companies in business for decades. I suspect this will cause problems in the future.
Durack is much more expensive, and should be a better area in which to live in the future. It is expensive though, and not very good value at all. Unless you are a FHB, I'd avoid the new stuff.

Hope this post helps someone in the future...

 

Wow thanks for the extensive write up!

I would love to get some Brisbane or Melbournians in here!

 

Adelaides best suburbs are actually beachside. There is 'old money' (even 'dead money') in the east but as the heatwaves increase in frequency the beach is the place where people want to be. Inner west and inner north are interesting for younger people as they are affordable and close to CBD.

Also Far south extends to some really nice suburbs and eventually (if you go far enough) Victor Harbour. Watch the tour down under for a good view of some of these suburbs.

Finally people who live in the eastern suburbs don't get out much and will tell you the east is where it is all happening. ..... But nothing happens in Adelaide. If you are into funerals you could scrape a good living in the eastern suburbs.....that is about all.

Look towards the setting sun. Beach, breezes, gentrification. Down south it is bit cooler and you don't have to talk to people from the eastern suburbs (who don't get out much).

 

Don't really agree that the East is dead money. It's relatively expensive IMO, but its still the primo blue ribbon spot.

Our (relatively recent) PPOR purchase is by the beach so agree with you on it being delightful.

No one considers Victor Harbour a suburb.

Also wouldnt compare inner west and inner north lol. They're very different.

Am on the ground, can confirm.

 

I think people peddling the eastern suburbs are in a coma. Over priced. Beach yes. South great (including the country areas). Inner north, inner west (and inner north west) all great.

I feel sorry for the people up north with the closure of the manufacturing industries. That is a hard luck story IMO.

 

the brisbane stuff is throughout various existing threads including the mother of em all- the (in)famous hype Brisbane thread. If you are too lazy to read 325 pages or so of that thread...well...then you are lazy
In summary, brisbane has been on path to improve its fundamentals over the last few years ( when they finally saw the writing on the wall with mining)- and this has been accepted by private enterprises evidenced by private money funding large scale projects ( queens wharf, brisbane qtr, cruise ship terminal, entertainment arena, and a variety of others).
This increase in demand ( commercial and residential) has in part resulted in developers building resi apartments in the cbd. The performance of these have thus been poor; struggled with high supply- a trend that will continue.However...well located houses and townhouses close to the CBD with some land component have performed consistently and strongly over the last few years. This trend too will almost certainly continue.

Note that when i talk about brisbane above, i am only talking about the CBD and surrounds- the BCC council area. It does not include logan, ipswitch, inala, MB, sc, gc etc....all of which have their own individual drivers and market behavior.
Once again, people ( especially mexicans south of the border) should note that brisbane is no sydney where there was a relatively uniform and widespread boom that extended to far flung areas like the druie. Brisbane is very different- growth has been limited to certain areas- those that grew have performed well however. In brisbane its not uncommon to have suburbs not far from each other, but have very different growth numbers. This is especially true when you get further away from the CBD.

 

I think it is OK to add that gold coast is a boom / bust town, and is going though some boom time. The region between brisbane and gold coast has some patches of interesting 'sleeper' suburbs IMO. Brisbane is starting to suffer from serious transport problems would be the other major factor and so transport route analysis (rather than crow flies analysis) would be a useful element to consider.

Someone north of the river might like to comment on North and Sunny Coast?