I have 2 toddlers and they will start primary school in 2021. My husband works in the cbd. Looking for a first home that has good school catchment that is not so far from cbd and at the same time can be an investment in case we decide to stay in our current suburb. Any thoughts? Or suburb suggestions? My budget is max of 1m. Hopefully can stick to 800k if possible. Thank you.
Are you looking at apartments? Maybe townhouse or villa? 1mil is tight for a house in both those areas. Ryde has good schools. More central too. West Ryde is a bit cheaper.
Similar boat as you. Carlingford has lot of new construction. Good area but lacks connectivity to city. MArsfield is good too. We live in Macquarie Park and got some good schools.
Carlingford will benefit from the conversion of the train line to Metro over the next few years (check out the thread on Parramatta). Ryde is a bit of a backwater but good area. Other places to consider are North Ryde, West Ryde or Meadowbank which are on train/Metro lines.
I'd say of the 2, Carlingford has the Edge when it comes to schools, but Ryde is closer to the city. Ryde and Carlingford both don't have trains. (Well, technically Carlingford does, but it's a very bad service). The Carlingford train line should convert to metro, but my understanding is that it will connect to Parramatta and SOP, so it will still be an indirect trip to the city. Have you thought about Castle Hill? Good schools, good bus and train transport..... Or buy at the Northern edge of Carlingford near Oakes Rd so you can access the M2 buses. (A extremely good service, and it should continue being a really good service despite the opening of the metro). West Ryde has a train station and it’s a good service, but I haven’t read or heard anything that suggests that the local schools are outstanding. I guess they are probably just fairly normal. The local primary school does offer Mandarin and Hindi though (from what I heard from a parent a few years ago).
I used to live in West Ryde so I am biased. I would say Ryde is better in terms of commuting to the city, you can take the red express bus, train from West Ryde/Meadowbank, or even a ferry from Darling Harbour to Meadowbank. There has been a significant increase in the number of train commuters because of new dwellings around train stations so you might not get a seat, but given that it is a 30 mins ride to the city, it should not be a problem In terms of schools around West Ryde, they are fine but probably not the best. Carlingford on the other hand, has better schools but longer commute to the city.
Carlingford line is being converted to Light Rail to Parramatta, not to Metro. Although it may get an interchange to a station on the future West Metro (Rydalmere it's looking like).
Yep - light rail (not Metro) Linky - PRL I just had a look at the latest info for the extension of PRL to Olympic Park. This picks up the area of Rydalmere/Ermington/Melrose Park/Wentworth Point. These areas may be worth considering as well. Transport to the CBD isn't too bad with the M52 express buses from Parramatta.
