VIC What is your view on Corio

What is everyone's view on Corio for growth? It is a bit far from melbourne CBD but has train connectivity.

 

Asked a friend who has IPs in Geelong. Recommended to stear clear, good rental yields but has a bad rap which could limit capital growth. Far less development, infastructure in the North Side compared to what's happening out Waurn Ponds way.

I'm also looking at purchasing this year in Geelong.

 

The northern suburbs (Corio, Norlane, North Shore) have a bad reputation, for some valid reasons. Since the amalgamation of councils, the money once collected by the corio shire from Ford, Shell etc is no longer just theirs to spend, which means a lot of community infrastructure hasn't been touched since the 80s (was arguably the best in Geelong, now noticeably the worst).

 

Plenty of good past PC threads on the subject. Here's one. Dave123 I felt was quite insightful on these areas-
First IP - Corio/Norlane or Melton [VIC]

 

The boat to invest in Corio sailed a few years ago. Well and truly. For not too much more, you can get into Newcomb and surrounds.

 

Yeah around 2016-2017 was the perfect time to get into it. I get that Corio isn't a premium Geelong suburb, however if you could get something for 250-270k for a 3b/500+m2 of land...That was a great deal especially looking back today.

 

Corio 3BV homes with 500M2 to 600M2 land are selling for $450K plus . Is this one of the hot spots to look out for,considering its only 30Kms from the Melbourne CBD ? Are there any infrastructure projects in the pipeline? 2021 is a much different market to 2020 ,is it time start to looking into some of these areas that were no go areas in the past ,in terms Capital gains and demographics etc ? .thanks

 

I'd recommend that anyone considering buying there take a drive around first as having a large oil refinery close by isn't for everyone

 

I'm going to say you made a typo with saying it's 30kms from the city, it's 66kms. It's grown very well over the past 3-4 years, almost doubled in value. Primarily because it was cheaper in comparison with its surrounds and its proximity to Geelong's waterfront. I recommend you read the dozens of threads on here about Corio and Norlane, then come back and post specific questions.

 

Corio and Norlane (3214 postcode) are in some respects starting to look a bit like they did in the early-mid 2010's....because other suburbs of Geelong have gone up significantly they are again significantly cheaper than areas not too much further in.

The usual demographic issues do remain to some extent, although i can say that in my 11 years in Dunloe Ave Norlane West i haven't really encountered anything particularly unsavoury, indeed it's been pretty quiet and peaceful in this neck of the woods.

Paradoxically until Covid kicked in the great paradox of the commute to Melbourne was that people seemed to cheerfully buy in places further from Melbourne in order to commute there. The endless traffic heading along Portarlington Road in the 6am darkness heading to Melbourne bears witness to the fact that people used to (or at least seemed to) enjoy the 80-90 minute drive to Melbourne rather than buy in Corio and cut that back to maybe 50-55 minutes. Funnily enough with working from home, even the large Government agencies in Geelong like the TAC, Worksafe and ABS have had decrees to work from home if possible, so perhaps in some regards proximity to Melbourne means less than it ever used to.

My premise of back around 2014 or so is still this, Geelong is a small enough city that living in the 3214 postcode means that the amenities which someone buying in Geelong West or East Geelong and paying maybe 800K or more to live there, are merely a 10-12 minute car trip away from 3214. Public transport is available, although I've taken a bus maybe twice in the last 20 years or so. If property prices rise in the dearer areas, and they outstrip the Northern suburbs of Geelong, then the value equation sort of returns.

 

I see the slight price difference between corio, norlane and the ones which are closer to northshore. If the property is near northshore, train station, are they more desirable in that area and we need spend some $20K more than other areas?

I understand boat to invest in these areas sailed a few years ago but isn't it in most of the areas in major capital cities?