VIC Where to buy investment property $500- $700k in Melbourne?

Hi all Melbourne property gurus!

My hubby and I tried to retire from property investing. Successfully sold all our investments in the peak times and as a result we effectively do not have any mortgages for our PPOR and holiday house. Our strategy was always to buy something that we can rent out initially, but add value in the long term, mostly via renovating. For some wierd reason that I cannot really explain, we both feel that we could do a couple more. Feel free to call it madness, boredom, craziness.​

Because we have been out off the market for the quite long time and just starting to do the research all help is highly appreciated. If you had $500k to $700k to invest in Melbourne, where would you look to buy?

Personally I always had valued land & house over apartments and generally older well built houses that we can add value later on, but I promise to be open minded.

 

For that price, I would consider looking at Clayton/Mulgrave/Dandenong/ Noble Park North or Endeavor Hills. You may not get a good property in Clayton or Mulgrave on this price however you will get good quality home around Dandenong or Noble park.
Mostly old houses with big block. Easy to find tenant and vacancy rate is very low. Good luck with the house hunting!

 

Thanks 3rd Drop for the quick response.

I am not really familiar with these suburbs. But the older houses with big blocks sounds something that we are keen on. Is there a l lot of development or subdivisions going on theses suburbs?

 

I’d look at Laverton, maybe Altona Meadows in the West. Lots of development and sub division going on in Laverton at the moment and it’s really gentrifying. You can get a decent house on a good size block in the $500 k’s.

 

Short answer 'yes' although it's a bit slow now due to market conditions. Do some research on realestate.com.au or search here by suburb name. You would be able to find a few threads on these suburbs.

 

Outskirts are pretty hot towards Geelong.

I would target land and build to gsin some equity and good rental yield.

Regards

 

Lol are you serious? Have you looked on gumtree and Facebook for people trying offland land at a loss

 

Don't know about you mate. I am still seeing ares and lots in good demand and at the same pricing as was in 2017 end/ beginning 2018.

To me, this is an opportunity. With double digit margins in some cases around 5% rental yields.

Everyone to their own.


Regards

 

I get the feeling most of these are ones who put down a deposit 12-18months ago and now cannot get finance. I see this as an opportunity for a bargain.

 

I see a road trip! I would be coming to Brisbane and working your magic, I think you would do well, and be in the nice sunshine. Brisbane is moving, why invest in Melbourne? I loooove renos.

 

Thanks for the quick replies.

Geelong / Laverton areprobably fraction too far for us when thinking about renovations, but you guys gave me a thought about buying land and build the new house. But personally I am not big fan of the new surbubs. Rightly or wrongly I feel that land is not scare on these locations and your house is not going to be new for long when new ones get build and I am sorry about lomg term capital growth. Of course if you get the land really discounted price at the first place, situati oon might be different.

CateBell, currently raining and really cold in Melbourne and it makes me seriously thinking to take your advice and move somewhere warmer

 

Have you considered the Mornington Peninsula? Rosebud/McCrae/Rye. I see quite a few homes for sale that need renovations and in your price point on great size blocks of land ☺️

 

Not sure where about a in Melb you are based but i wouldn’t put Geelong and Laverton in the same basket. Laverton is 20kms from CBD on the train line and has on / off ramps to M1.

When i said there was development going on I didn’t mean land release I meant old large blocks being sub divided and townhouses etc being built. As mentioned you can still get a house with decent bones on a large block for $500k’s ish. The new TH’s are going for plus $550k.

Good luck with the project.

 

If looking for a house I’d consider along the Belgrave line say between upper ferntree gully to Belgrave. Nice green areas with limited new supply & o/o appeal of the hills as well as train line if require city access.
Otherwise perhaps around Hallam/Narre Warren area as have easy Monash access to the city & train options as well. More options around this area and access to Fountain Gate shopping centre for large shopping access if desired.
At this price point will be competing with FHB’s and market still likely to be strong based from what I hear on the ground around these price points.
Stats I hear only 11% of Melb people use train for daily commute so perhaps Monash Fwy better priority.
Good luck

 

Although I think Melbourne property is pretty overpriced there's probably still decent value. I'd be looking for as much land basically as close as you can get to the city. One suburb I've been looking at is Heidelberg West which has decent blocks and is still pretty close to the city. This place looks decent value as long as the bones of the house are still solid.

https://m.realestate.com.au › ... ›...Vic 3081 - House for Sale - realestate.com.au

 

And the listing has switched to sold as of an hour after I posted...

 

What's your time frame for investment?
Are you playing the short term < 10 years, Mid 11 - 20 years or long 21+?

Suburbs that come to mind with good land content, gentrification potential, lower incomes that have more potential upside and areas that have already bottomed in pricing are:

Thomastown
Lalor
Glenroy
Fawkner
Frankston
Sunshine North

^ These suburbs all have different timelines. Glenroy, for example, has seen significant gentrification and is now showing incomes going up. Thomastown, however, is a much longer play as not much has changed since the 2011 rail station upgrade.

 

There is a reason why Heidelberg West is cheap, way cheaper compared to its neighbours.

 

Yeah, a lot of council houses!

 

If council houses are a problem you would never have bought in places like Fitzroy and Carlton over recent decades. It's not a perfect place but you get way more house for your dollars considering the distance from the CBD than just about anywhere else. And as far as I can see there's not an obvious reason for it. The main problem is that it's already caught up a fair bit over recent years.

I had an interesting chat with a friend's parents about when they bought in the early 80s and all their family were telling them to buy in nice eastern suburbs places like Blackburn. Instead they went for the choice of Fitzroy which was never going to be anything but a working class suburb with all its council housing. I bet they regret that decision...