VIC Has the sky fallen in Reservoir?

i have known of people who had this removed though certain suburbs like park orchards you can't. you could always try your luck

 

doveton used to be dirt cheap and even that has moved. though i wouldn't touch it. it used to be the no.1 foreclosure suburb in victoria a couple of times 3-4 years back which really means people there are unable to service their loans. also lots of african migrants sudanese who have just recently relocated to the country (hence job prospects may not necessarily be good). you also want to think abt the rental aspect (since in these kind of suburbs tenants can be difficult)

 

Just drive around the suburb man, if you say Ramu street was bad...I think the majority of Doveton is bad. HW you get a few filthy/ugly streets, I'd say Doveton is worse! It is virtually zombie land...well zombie ice land!

Doveton was created to as a housing development for those who worked in the Dandenong factories, in which case the suburb was localised....and not serviced by any train lines. It all fell apart when manufacturing jobs went offshore to mostly China.

Personally I think HW can gentrify, Doveton, I think is more difficult. HW is close to the CBD, it will naturally attract professionals and families in due course IMHO. Doveton will rely more on reinvention by the government - Dandenong is earmarked to become a "Satellite City" - something like a Paramatta. Realstically though, I don't like its chances, Dan seems to favour pushing jobs to Ballarat, Footscray and Box Hill, there will only be so many gov jobs to reallocate!

Optimistically Doveton is cheap by today's standards...you could foresee gentrification if:

- Dandenong successfully becomes a Outer South East Gov/Business hub.
- I know many businesses are relocating from Moorabbin/Springvale/Clayton to Dandenong; cheaper rents and much bigger land. This could create jobs but much smaller scale.

 

I've been to doveton before - nah man wouldn't want to touch (as said it was the foreclosure capital of the Victoria at some stage couple years back)

 

Ok, I am thinking of looking into Lalor or Broadmeadows around $450 to $550. What do you guys think?
Not sure whether hiring buyers agent is worth it considering I have to travel to Melbourne from Canberra till I find one. Lol

 

I don't think you can get anything in Lalor for less than $600K these days?

 

I second Willister's post above. Unless you're looking at Townhouses/Units I doubt you'll find something on a decent plot with your budget.

 

I see. A decent block means it had to be 600sqm? Is it ok if the block is just above 500sqm? Not planning to develop anytime soon but might be good down the track. I guess it is up to council approval still if the block is over 500sqm.

 

not necessarily 600sqm - there is just a guide (and would really be dependant on the architect). it can be 500sqm depending on the zone or if you are only planning to subdivide into 2 - 330sqm would be even enough (seen it in footscray). I would buy 400-500sqm easily if my intention was only to subdivide 2 to 3.

 

I think if you set yourself on a suburb (make a few trips and with confidence bid for it). if it works out to be more exp - then choose a BA. this was in the RE yesterday. as I said the ripple effect - moved now to thomastown (with lalor just there) .

Broadmeadows or meadow heights is still worth considering (I been to the areas - but am not looking into there)

 

I'm not sure whats the fascination with land banking to be honest, especially in a market like this where at best, prices stablise, at worse they dip. If you land banked and prices dipped and tried to build say 2 townhouses, you'll almost be selling at break even in the best case to a massive loss in the worse.

What's your most important investment aspect? Is it generating a good cash flow or getting a decent sized block for land banking and getting a rental income as well? Can't have the best of both worlds as they say.

A small but cheaper say 400m2 with a decent 3 bedder say will cost you much less than a large block but produce better rental income returns as it's cheaper. Having said that, I seem to notice that the larger land sizes seem to attract a lower per square meter rate than smaller homes. For instance in Heidelberg Heights when I did my due diligence, larger blocks say 700m2+ seemed to fetch around $1,200-$1,300 per sq meter. 400-500m2 blocks seemed to fetch $1,400-$1700 per m2.

 

this has to do with banyule being very "green" with quite a few vegetation overlays and the recent minimum garden sizes for lots. every sqm makes a diff (if you're squeezing in blocks)

 

I see. So, a run down house on around 500sqm block in Lalor is worth around $500k? The sold prices are around there this year. Till last year November, the 3 bedroom houses are still around 450k. Is there any dodgy streets in Lalor area that you are aware off?thanks!

 

to buy in lalor for 600m2 block u need to have atleast 700k. u can find 600m2 block with ur budget only in dallas and doveton. If u drive by dallas, it looks like middle east and if u drive by doveton it looks like africa full of sudanese , somalia .

 

@willister I am more after captial growth for Melbourne. I know that the rental yield are very low in Melbourne due to recent boom. I just like to have a flexibility in the future if I have more land. Like you said, I will pay more per sqm for small blocks and still the rental yield won't be that good.

 

@google boy Thanks for the info. Yeah, I won't be looking into Dallas or Doveton. I think Broadmeadows will be a good alternative.

 

you definitely right on the demographics in dallas and doveton but pretty far off for the prices. 600sqm or close to that has many sales in lalor for 500-600K such as the ones below. thomastown needs to be reaching prices like that before lalor.

677sqm - 576K



654sqm - 531k


689sqm - 600k
31 Vasey Avenue, Lalor, Vic 3075 - Property Details

to be honest the worst blocks to be had is the ones that are 650-725sqm due to the garden minimum space requirements of 35%. they're not really 900sqm but at the edge of the sqm that requires it. if you're doing a 2-3 townhouse dev 550-649sqm should be sufficient rather pay more for it.

 

go for lalor anything around 500-649sqm
the thing is no point having larger blocks again state planning laws on minimum garden space for larger blocks. Again, it could change so have to be cautious. Previously there was a zone called neighbourhood res zone which restricted dev to just 2 dwelling or some maybe just 1 dwelling. that was recently removed hence premium suburbs which had townhouses that were price more find themselves with more supply now.

 

@melbournian Oh I see, ok. Thanks for the info. Yeah, I think Lalor is still within my budget. If not, might have to go to Broadmeadows. Hopefully, Lalor still hasn't reached its peak yet.

 

Is Williams landing a new suburb? Is it a good area?