VIC saint alban the most overrated suburb in western suburb at the moment

That's a good point

Though I recall before this alfrieda high flying sales there was a 1.1 million as well out of the acz zone.

Also went to a Werribee corner block auction that passed in

And a corner block in Heidelberg heights that had 2 vendor bids before passing in the 700kish Blocks like these were 850k last week and nearly a mil in other weeks. Maybe the cold weather or new financial year or abnormal week?

 

@lamnumber5 beat me to it, but yes, same street, but way past the golden zone. Anything north of the library is considered "too far" from the town centre.

55 McEwan street surprised me, considering the other one got sold for 1mil+, that street has been earmarked as GRZ1! Surprised if it's just $700K.

Hmm I was at an auction in Clayton today just for fun, there are a lot of "Sitting in the fence" ppl like me, being cautious. Prices may have stablised imho, it's not getting to the point where its dropping significantly, but some of the vendors were those who purchased it 20+ years ago, had enough, want to bank the money, whats another $20-$30k going to do when you've already got heaps?

I'm kind of disappointed and surprised at the same time HW/HH has not really taken off despite the huge leap. It really reminds me of Chadstone/Ashwood late 2000s. These days stuff like 600-650m2 ex commission houses (2/3 bedders) fly off the shelf for $1.1-1.3million. Its cleaned up a lot even since I've moved in but a lot of the underbelly is still there.

 

Gee mate, fair go. I was a 2nd generation Vietnamese who grew up in St. Albans during days much worse than what it is today....

I can almost guess with that barbed wire running along the fence it was up to no good at one stage, one of the ex owners. Highly likely a ex marijuana grower.

North probably slightly edges out West imho in terms of amenities but also probably now, price. The West has a uni in Vic Uni but that isn't exactly ranked very highly.

Interesitng re: HW/La Trobe. No wonder why there is movement/interest from some Chinese investors. But it will be a game of who really can be the next "Monash", imho Melbourne itself is only big enough for 2, max 3 prestigious top tier Aust Unis. Melb is a given, Monash is default 2nd choice. It'll be a challenge between RMIT, La Trobe and Deakin, Swinburne imho, but note that none have medical degrees like Melb and Monash.

When I was to uni (early 2000s) La Trobe was almost a distant 3rd but way above the rest overall (other than Melb/Monash) but from the grapevine, a lot of my younger mates tell me now that is now Deakin.

 

Only foolish people who have got no knowledge of Melbourne property market will spend more than 1 million in st alban. st alban is not even worth of 700k for bigger block. I have noticed especially chinese community, they just want to buy house in Australia and they are bidding crazy. I attended the auction in hooper crosiing. Property was worth of 440k but three chinese couple were bidding against each other . It was sold for 552k

 

if I have got 1 million, I will buy in eastern suburb rather than west

 

to be honest, it is not that far out to walk - i compare it to similar blocks off broadway street,reservoir, further towards boldrewood rd far from the broadway shops (similar zone) that sell for 1.1 or at least 900K, but i found it strange is 174 was sold as well by the same agent (it was a double block).

I personally went to werribee and a corner block failed to even get a bid with ppl just looking around. i was there at 55 McEwan street and couldn't even get a bid. the auctioner started low and put in a vendor bid and realized no one wanted it so had to put another vendor bid so it looks good on paper passed in. i looked at the plans and there was an easement on the side of the block where you could put another house. so if you were retaining the other house, you might need to have a narrow house build. Maybe that put ppl off, spoke to the underbidder of the last auction in HH for 850K - he said hmmm banking regs and start of the financial year, so playing it cool. Also these places were flying for 900-1mil just like within the 2 months ago in HW as well the worst off so it cannot be distance to shopping st as there is really none in HH. then again i saw a bamfield one sold for 880k.





as your experiences in clayton and the vibe in auction visits this week, i think the mkt has cooled off a bit. St albans low price, Corner block werribee passed in, Corner block HH passed in.

 

nah mate - i think that 172 Alfrieda was a good buy (i didn't get enough time to do some due dliegence otherwise i would have put a bid in and gone to 750K max. (it is cheap if you compared the sales prices that sold ard the area for that zone). End of the day that block can easily fit 6 townhouses easy comapred to other blocks which you can only put 4. Reservoir similar blocks distance to shopping are fetching 900k to above a mil. one below sold for 900K (158 broadway reservoir) same zone as the 172 alfrieda and much further walking distance to the shops

 

Been looking into St Albans exactly for these reasons. With my budget of around $560k I'm fairly limited to a 3bdr and a block around 550sqm but hoping to secure something rather soon. Unfortunately the rental yields seem rather poor and something for that price rents out for around $330-350/week. It will defs be negatively geared so would really be banking on CG over the next few years. Given the solid foundations you mentioned above I'm hoping that the area will continue to grow, similar to Footscray did a few years ago and more recently Sunshine currently undergoing gentrification.

@melbournian what are your thoughts on Werribee? It's hard to look past the supply of land available and I always hear about the issues with traffic in the area, which seems to deter me. However it's still very affordable relative to somewhere like St Albans so I'm struggling to decide between the 2 suburbs

 

What is wrong with Vietnamese people?
What nationality are you google boy?

 

IMHO Market has gone down a bit since May 17, well only for HH as I noticed. The 79 Bamfield one is pretty nice. Brickwork is nice, nice reno inside, I think its a steal at $880K or the market has turned.

 

550sqm is more than enough. I thought St Albans is ok, some of the streets Asian groceries eateries are no diff to ones in Carnegie, Clayton etc. The only thing I can take from it is that there is more Vietnamese there than other suburbs I have been to (from my on the ground experiences). The auctions I have been to, basically the only English I heard was when the spoke to me and the auction process, all phone calls, speaking to visitors etc were all in Vietnamese. It can be a little daunting (like in a diff world) - one of my trades Lebanese said he couldn't take it and felt the place is crap (again personal bias) similar to what one would say if you went to broadmeadows etc. Only diff is lots of these viets have coin otherwise you will not see the 1.6-1.8 mil sales

Werribee - I went there on the weekend visited the surroundings I think if you can find anything early 300kish is a good deal existing blocks. Went to pacific Werribee (very new and nice) though the ppl in the mall vastly diff to say chadstone, northland or westfield doncaster. Some crim looking blokes walking ard looking like they're on ice. So maybe it would take some time for things to change. Still for $$ to $$ it is the prob among the cheapest to score a block of land and house.

 

It was definitely a good buy couple of years ago, when the work around the new train stations began and the freeway upgrades got approved. But I believe it might have hit its short term peak. It is still a good buy if you plan to hold it for a longer term - as gentrification process has already kicked in. And its no worse/better than sunshine. In fact, as others have mentioned its closer to two freeways and you can pick 3 routes while driving to the city.

 

although 172 is only an extra 2 minutes drive from the recent 1.8mil property but if you live in the area you will know once you go pass the Biggs street roundabout it feels far from the shopping strip. 700k is a very good sell. By no mean the price has cooled down.

 

@yamahamoto hmm - I think it was cold weather - like said the place was empty until start of auction. also the next door sold privately 174. From a dev perspective if they combined it would have been at 18-20 townhouse site as the next door sold for 800Kish. 700K is bargain for a growth zone - it is probably the cheapest one sold distance wise to CBD. 12 minutes walk is no biggie. I also only realized when I came there. there are houses in clayton that sell for million+ that are much much further than this to either the station or monash uni. and the other side is some Keilor SC. so you are in the middle of both really.

but you are right - the locals feel it is not the right price (and it was possibly only local Vietnamese bidding) no Caucasians etc. That is why it's really depends on what the locals think it is worth as well. if you go Balwyn, doncaster the crowds are diff - you get a mix bag (eventhough it has a lot of mainland chinese). my last few St Albans seems only viet bidders all around (like some said strong demographics) nothing against viets - but being too reliant one demographic could be risky.

 

@melbournian where did you find the above zoning map?

 

@ashaarrh

as below - that 172 was just 3 blocks into the zone. and tbh - I went to that Keilor Dwn plaza after. is not bad fully packed and you have the option of both. walking to st albans shops or Keilor plaza- though as someone said maybe local clientele - Vietnamese prefer and value the st albans shops better

Brimbank Maps - Planning Schemes Online

 

it has always been Melbourne and Monash (followed by the next group of Swinburne, deakin, Latrobe, RMIT). Don't forget all of these universities have links to overseas (with twinning programs and foundation studies). Some which offer law and medicine degrees only recognize certain degrees. Hence for e.g if you went for a bachelor of laws in say deakin, you might not be able to be accepted to the bar in certain countries (as they have a preferred list - this was when I studying in my uni years - may have changed)

Vic University and the CQU are not really a big attraction here as they are relatively do not have a reputation as other universities. if you compare Bachelor of Physiotheraphy - Latrobe uni has 90% ATAR ranking for physiotheraphy showing a demand for these course in that university where else these courses are offered at very low ATAR elsewhere.

Also see the bottom completion rates - of the universities and see where the majority are.



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...e/news-story/0c70435cf7690878811d957a51523a5b

"Australia’s university dropout rate is worsening, with one in three students failing to complete the course they began within six years of enrolling, prompting the federal government to name the country’s worst performing institutions for the first time.

As the government moves to force universities to become more transparent about graduate outcomes, a new Department of Education report shows only 66.7 per cent of students who enrolled in 2009 completed their courses within six years.

The worst universities for student completions have fewer than half of all enrolled students graduating within six years of beginning a course, in many cases leaving behind debts to the commonwealth never to be repaid.

Dropout rates are the highest in Queensland and the Northern Territory, where there are more indigenous, rural and remote students, while universities in the ACT and Victoria have the country’s best completion rates.

Just over 40 per cent of students who enrolled at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory, Central Queensland University and the University of Southern Queensland had completed courses within six years, suggesting a combined dropout of more than 20,000 students.

University of Melbourne had the best completion rate, 88 per cent, which was almost 4 per cent higher than in 2010, while the University of Sydney and the Australian National University also recorded completion rates above 80 per cent."

 

Monash back in my days (not sure when you did uni, I finished 2002, first course anyway) was a distant 2nd, it was never as close as it is to Melbourne University today. RMIT/Swinburne to me seems incomplete, they're more or less tech focused and I think RMIT's golden days are well past it. I can only see Deakin and La Trobe more so La Trobe become more "prestigious" - ironic La Trobe is smack bang near HW (pardon the pun).

I think personally to keep a decent reputation, you almost have to have no foreign campuses in Asia, else you are really selling yourself out.

 

I did degrees in both Melbourne and monash. but I think you love Latrobe and HW and HH. come on mate prices are having a short time out, time to either enter or take a punt in st albans. I am already regretting not putting up my hand on Sat. (though I better get some gun viet RE agent if I did.)

 

Have you seen anything go for low 3's recently though?

You can get small (300sq or so) or subdivided blocks but like this:
house.ksou.cn/p.php?q=Werribee&sta=vic&id=281296&address=21+Kimberley+Road%2C+Werribee

For a full size block though, you'd be doing very well to get something under 4.