Ranking Each Cap City's Lowest Socio-Eco Areas

Hi folks,

I know a number of investors have done very well out of some of these areas, and some others have not.

Truth be told, I own a couple in some of these areas. The purpose of this post isn't to sling s*** at these suburbs nor the people residing in them (which is why I've not made this post a survey; instead I'm looking for more qualitative insights I guess).

So, I'd love to know how forumites rank the investment prospects for the below areas of the major cap cities. Which ones from this bunch have more drivers than the others? Which ones actually have the worst tenant quality in comparison to others? Etc.

- Sydney's Mount Druitt / St Marys / Whalen etc.
- Sydney's Liverpool & surrounds
- Melbourne's Sunshine & surrounds
- Melbourne's Frankston North and surrounds
- Brisbane's Logan rougher areas (Central, Woodridge, Slacks etc.)
- Adelaide's Elizabeth / Davoren Park etc.
- Perth's Rockingham and surrounds
- Hobart's Gagebrook / Clarendon Vale
- Canberra's Fyshwick / Hume

It is a tough one because I imagine very few forumites will have an opinion (or experience) in ALL of these areas, but you may have experience in a couple of them.

I'm not suggesting either, that my strategy is only looking at low socio-eco areas (it isn't), instead I am just curious to see which ones forumites would consider, and which they never would!

 

The Mount Druitt/St Marys/Whalan area (where I live) has already grown a lot during the boom and now seems to be tapering off. A three-bed fibro in Whalan was recently marketed at $480,000 to $560,000 ... I can't see these prices going up again any time soon as there's questionable value for money.

In terms of tenants, it depends entirely on the area and street. Some very good, quiet locations, but also some rowdy tenants as there are in any suburb. Look for a family, or young couple, have a property walking distance (up to 15 mins) from Mount Druitt Station and check out the neighbours in advance (in this neck of the woods in particular they make or break the experience for the tenant and therefore the investor). Drive down the street of the property you're considering in the early evening hours and once around 10pm on a Friday and you'll get a sense of it very quickly (our street is V V noisy, lots of music being blasted out etc - but we don't mind this so much. What we do mind is the domestic violence we have to call the police about regularly up the road.)

In Melbourne, we lived in the Melton area (so further out than Sunshine) and it was quiet, much more peaceful than the Druitt area (which we are back in now). Similar socio economic climate and some graffiti, but perhaps due to fewer people (that's a guess) it hasn't really caught up to the same level of tension as some spots in 2770. But it does seem to have high vacancies and some vandalism.

Anyway, just my experience.

 

(Liverpool is also completely different from the Druitt. Totally different feel, but rapidly changing. I'm not much of an expert on that location though.)

 

Weirdly enough, the two suburbs listed for Canberra are mostly non-residential, in fact I'm pretty sure no-one lives there. They are light industrial areas so not a realistic snapshot of Canberra by any means.

 

@Jennifer Duke when I was driving through Corio, Norlane. Whittington over Easter break past, I was trying to pick out the similarities between Mt Druitt, St Marys and the aforementioned burbs in Geelong. Quite a contrast in terms of number of people and conditions of houses. I haven't been to Mt Druitt for a long while since my last local court appearance for a client but there were so many students loitering around shopping centres during school hours! I get better vibes from Geelong.

 

Thanks for that, i'll correct it as I've never looked at Canberra from an IP perspective.

What suburbs are more appropriate there, in this context?

 

Oh that's a bit hard. There are the stereotypical places that always come up but I am reluctant to go there as Canberra is a fickle place also with a massive north/south divide. There are some terrible spots in expensive suburbs and great spots in not so great suburbs. I'll let others comment

 

Wouldn't surprise me! The loitering disappeared for a while, but it seems to have come back again. I have a couple of theories for this - one involving lock out laws bringing 18-25 year olds back to hanging out in the 'burbs, the other around more people, especially sharehouses, popping up due to affordability constraints of the inner areas.
There was also recently a riot in the Druitt. A minority of the suburb obviously involved (and I was home at the time and didn't hear about it until I got the police alert through work), but a concern. I do believe the reputation of 2770 will improve dramatically over the next 5-10 years though for anyone looking for a medium-term hold of their IP.

I am rarely around the Druitt in school hours (due to work in the city), but wouldn't surprise me if that was still the case. Like any area there are good and bad patches though - we really love Whalan in general. But we don't have nor want children, don't hugely mind the commute and we aren't big for socialising in the area... tenants might not want the same things we do.

 

@Jennifer Duke by the sound of it, Mt Druitt has improved. I should keep an eye out in those areas.

 

Agree, i dont know how you chose those 2 suburbs as no.one lives there.
I dont think anywhere in Canberra is really bad. There is no where i wouldnt live. The same suburbs in other cities would be middle class. I'd think the lower suburbs would be Charnwood, Holt, Richardson, Isabella Plains, Oaks estate.

 

I hope you are right re: reputation improving in the next 5-10 years...what do you think so given things like riots and loitering as mentioned above?

 

hard to imagine unless the government decide to move the PH somewhere else but then it has to be based somewhere. If not Druitt then where?

 

PH has been steadily declining in the area and a lot of redevelopment happening (council actively tackling social issues as well). I think it'll get better re: rep as it will be one of the few remaining areas families can afford to buy a home and anyone in the lower socio economic demographic will sadly be priced out.

The painful factor now, which is a struggle across Sydney, is how busy the suburb has become. Car park at station is packed (even despite recent extension), rail line is full, shopping centre is chaos etc.

 

hindsight is a wonderful thing but I dont recall any experts or investors say druitt was a good investment before the boom,

as for logan, yeah id say its low socio economic but not that low

what about ashmont in wagga ?

im deciding on whether I shuld keep mine, I want to sell it due to little growth but all roads point to a growth very soon, but if I sell and it grows id be annoyed

 

Given the choice of those I would buy Frankston North... its by the bay.... pity the weather in Melbourne isnt great for swimming most of the time.

 

Strongly disagree with this (though the rest of what you're saying makes sense). Investors and their advisers (Right Property Group in particular) had been buying in the Druitt for a long time before the boom .

 

Cool, i'll just remove Canberra entirely from the original post and focus on the other ones

Thanks for the insights so far on these areas, keep 'em coming!

 

Frankston North kinda feels like it will catch up to F/Central, F/South eventually.

I know theres a lot of H/C still in the north but it cant stay muted forever. Love the geographic boundaries around it too.

 

Linda, I would buy Frankston if I have some cash left.

It's got the bay and it will gentrify in time. @sauber who lives there would be able to provide some insights.

 

Yields were good and price of land was quite cheap over there before. Of course not everyone was buying there but there were investors that could see it being a good investment.