VIC Where to Buy for PPOR? Up to 1 million. Minimum 3 BR, close to train station to travel to CBD

Hi everyone,

Thanks for helping me out!

I'm in my early 30s and looking for a PPOR up to $1 million (preferably less). I would like 3 BR and am open to a house or a townhouse. I work in the city and would commute via public transport so being close to a train station would be ideal.

I have seen a townhouse in Ashwood. It's 1.3km from the train station. What do you think about the area? Does it have good potential for growth?

I'm from the inner western suburbs and my partner works in the eastern suburbs so unfortunately anything in between is super premium.

I would love to hear your thoughts and your ideas on location/house/townhouse.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

 

Alamein line is ok, less frequent than Belgrave or Lilydale and might need to change at CAMBERWELL station sometimes.

That area has undergone lots of growth in price due to knock down rebuilds. I would try closer to the station if possible

 

Townhouses in the area haven't really moved since the peak in 2017. The area is a bit of a amenity blackhole, no real village like local strips within walking distance, schools are average and has an industrial/ex govt housing feel to it. But it is close to the city by PT and distance, so depends what matters to you the most. It could grow to rival that of Mount Waverley and Glen Waverley further down the track, this may have been more probable if it had not been for Covid disrupting the traditional model of land prices closer to the CBD being more valuable. Now there seems to be a trend more towards affordability, size/layout, schooling and lifestyle and less towards proximity to the cbd.

If you want to be in an area with better schooling and amenities at $1mill you could consider Doncaster/Doncaster East close to one of the city express bus routes or the planned 2050 train station

If prices dip a bit, you might be able to get an older smaller townhouse in the syndal/glen waverley area in the zone which is high demand at present.

There is also the entire train corridor from Blackburn to Mitcham that you could explore too. Even Ringwood at that pricepoint.

The world is your oyster!

 

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-townhouse-vic-blackburn-134825934

not sure about layout or build but close to Laburnam station (1 station out from Box Hill where express starts), not too far from CBD and highly rated school zone (BHHS). I am sure if you offered 1.3M they would take it.

 

Not a bad location - a former colleague lived in that street and handy to station.
Pity the townhouse didn’t have another living space upstairs or another bedroom - they could have gone wider across the top.

 

For less than $1m, you could buy in the footscray-sunshine pocket north of the train line, or footscray-yarraville area to the south. Quite close to the city and will continue to gentrify.

example

 

Thanks for all the replies! Sorry I've been busy and haven't had a chance to respond.

What are the commute times on the train like around Blackburn and Doncaster?

My partner works around Glen Waverley.

I've seen a lot of townhouses popping up around Carnegie and Murrumbeena for around 1-1.2m.

I know in general these new townhouses have limited way of adding value in the future. Do you think they will still appreciate well over time due to location?

Thanks again for everyone's input!

 

Nice areas. Tough to see great future performance at that price unless its a massive townhouse. Also most of those suburbs are in the ERUV zone, so will likely be paying a premium to live in a zone that you might not necessarily need to be in.

On the flipside in terms of new 4 bed townhouses near transport links /shops/schools etc, they are becoming extremely rare and have been selling strongly for $1.3m+ near the Glen. So might be still "relative value" to be had. Although this type of stock attracts mainly Chinese buyers who probably prefer Glen over Carnegie and Murra.

But ofcourse once you live in it, it will no longer be new and thus the second hand market participants will dictate the value.

If you can get a full block though it might be a different storey. A few developers I know targeted the area around Ames street in 2016 and were flogging the new builds for absurd amounts but it will be outside your budget unless you team up with another trusted party.

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply Y-man, really appreciate it. Can I just ask what the long term thinking in this would be?

Do we just never own a home that we want to live in?

I already have an investment property and a small share portfolio. I was thinking that we'd buy a place to own

The idea of rent investing is certainly very appealing but would we just be eventually priced out in the future if we ever want to purchase a home?

Thank you Robbo80! Really gives me something to think about. It's really hard to think about buying a place that I want to live in now vs something that would appreciate over time. It would be great to have both but it doesn't look like my budget allows for that.

It feels stressful to think that you're repaying a mortgage over many years just to find your house/townhouse is worth the same you paid for it!