Hi, Spent the day in Ballarat today and went to 12 OFIs. Looking to spend between $250k and $350k on a first IP. Was not attracted to many of the homes I saw, needed a lot of work, and while I'm sure there's money to be made, not something I can commit to at the moment. The last house of the day was a property in Soldiers Hill, 1km from CBD and train station. Nice, quiet, tree-lined street. Brick home, 3bed, 1bath, period, art deco, perfect condition on 461sqm. $350k. Rental yield estimated between 4.5% and 5%. Interested in people's opinion of the area and Ballarat in general. Realise Melbourne is probably got more potential for CG, but happy to hold for a while, and play safe with first investment. Thanks in advance.
Fo For 4.5% to 5% of $350k, the rent needs to be around $340pw mark. Unless its in a very good condition, with a weaker rental market at the moment, I imagine it'll be hard to achieve. Prices are on the way up since we bought at the beginning of last year. In general, Soldiers Hill is a very good suburb. We wanted to buy in that suburb back then. The yield didnt stack up, so bought in Ballarat East and North. So far happy with the hold. After Ballarat Central and Lake Wendouree, Soldiers Hill is chasing up in terms of price.
What are peoples thoughts on Ballarat East? The suburb is about 2.5-3.5km from the Ballarat CBD and train station. Is this too far out? Is the southern suburbs preferred over the eastern ones?
Full Disclosure: I live in Ballarat East (PPOR). Ballarat East technically extends from within 1 km of the CBD as it is wedged between Bakery Hill & Golden Point at the CBD end.... and yes, Google maps does not provide an accurate suburb boundary. Is it too far out? Well that is subjective however I would suggest that the CBD end of the suburb is greatly underrated. It is a suburb on the move in terms of redevelopment as older retirees move out & middle age move in and/or redevelop. I say middle age because a lot of younger 1st home buyer are attracted to "shiny new" estates on the outskirts of town, as a school, shopping centre & daycare are priorities (as is the shiny new house...). Many youngin's often can't see the value in well positioned land.... So they drive to the cinema & we walk... They drive to the train station & we walk... I know where I'd rather live but then again, I don't have ankle biters anymore & I can see past the shiny new box on a postage stamp in the outer 'burbs.... BTW, I like Soldiers Hill too & it is still underrated considering its proximity to the CBD. Cheers Indi
Given that Ballarat isn't that close to cbd, I always have thought most people in Ballarat and surrounds would travel to work by car. So how packed are the trains ? Do most travellers work in city? Does proximity and walking distance to train station matter?
I don't live in Ballarat, but live in Norlane, suburb of Geelong. But one thing that may be overlooked (at least from my point of view) is that would there not be plenty of people who would relish the idea of living in a large regional city who work in that city, who therefore will be thrilled at the few minutes commute to and from work that would entail? As an example, i'm probably 50-55 minutes from Melbourne, but i have no desire or need to go there at all (apart from the odd footy match). Ballarat is a significant city with plenty of local employment, so in one sense being a couple of k's from Ballarat's own CBD, or maybe 5k's or even 7-8 K's is still just incidental for most local people's working day. That's something large regional cities offer that certainly Melbourne and Sydney just cannot offer anymore, a chance to get a house and land that is 10 minutes or so from all the amenities a local person may need. Granted there may be also a number of regional residents who do work in Melbourne, but i can honestly say from the perspective of this regional resident, in my case proximity to Melbourne means nothing to me. Yes capital city wages may be higher in some specialised fields (not in regular retail type work or standard services) but the accompanying much higher property prices does offset that a lot. Regional cities allow people earning standard incomes to work standard jobs and still afford to live. I reckon anecdotally there'd be quite a few people in that boat.
Most people in Ballarat probably do travel to work by car & many also drive to the train. When you say "Ballarat isn't that close to cbd" you must mean Melbourne cbd. Ballarat is a regional city with its own cbd.... about 104k people live here (yes me included) When I do work, it's Melbourne based & I usually travel by train. Is the train full. Well yes, they are quite full & the pickups along the way really fill them up. So yes, plenty of people live in Ballarat & commute to Melbourne via train. So is proximity to train & cbd (of Ballarat) a priority? I can only speak for myself here however it was #1 on my list.... but I'm not a renter either.
Apologies I did meant to say melb cbd. If public transport is reliable for regional cities, no doubt I would consider moving there and work in city. Too bad frequency and reliability of services hasn't catch up (for me anyway!)
I'm not sure what you mean to be honest. I've had more interrupted service issues with the Metro than with regional services. As for service frequency, they depart every hour at least with more during peak times from too early to care until 1030pm weekdays & later weekends. I'm not even a native Victorian let alone local to Melbourne or Ballarat and find it amusing how regional cities that are commutable to Melbourne are perceived. Yes the travel time is longer than the burbs (not by much in some instances) but the benefits are long too. Especially for home owners. For example, I don't have a mortgage to worry about amongst other things.....& I can walk to everything I had to drive to when living in the burbs. Each to their own. Enjoy the journey, Indi
This is from The Courier today - "PATRONAGE on the Ballarat rail line continues to grow rapidly, according to data from V/Line for the last financial year. A V/Line spokesperson confirmed the Ballarat corridor experienced a 12.6 per cent increase in patronage for 2015-16 compared to the previous year. The spokesperson said the Ballarat line now plays host to approximately 7700 customers per day." I would say the majority of those 7700 travellers are travelling to Melbourne to work - with only a few going down to see their dealers The vast majority of Ballarat people work in Ballarat and even the outermost suburbs are within 15min of Ballarat's CBD/train station by car.
Cheers for the info. Its good to year the patronage is increasing, hopefully this will add pressure for the government to increase funding Vline rail infrastructure.
