VIC Why is Forest Hill cheapest suburb in Melbourne East middle ring bounded by M1/M3-Eastlink?

We are looking to buy a renovated 3 bedder in eastern middle ring suburbs and noticed while Glen Waverley is of course the one with highest median house price (~$1.35M) due to GWSC, Forest Hill has the lowest median (~$990k) among all of the suburbs close to it in any direction (MW, GW, VS, Vermont, Nunawading, Mitcham, Blackburn, Blackburn South and Burwood East).

Is it just because of not-so-great ranking forest college zoning and no train station or are there other reasons known to locals which are hard to find online?

 

What you said is correct about school zone and train station. Also Forest Hill has lot more basic 3 bed 1 bath houses on relatively smaller block <600sqm compared to say Vermont South (mostly 4 bed 2 bath on 650sqm+. You can compare suburb median by number of bedrooms in Domain and will notice that median for 4 bedroom house in Forest Hill is higher relative to 3 bedders, but number of sales is lot lower.

Also, there are some public housing in Forest Hill but Nunawading probably got more.

 

Didn’t realise that. Just checked ABS QuickStats and saw 51% of Forest Hill housing stock is 3 beds while 59% of Vermont South’s is 4 beds or more.

Though 4 beds median for both is essentially same (1.17 FH; 1.174 VS).

Which streets in FH might have public housing?

 

[QUOTE="Though 4 beds median for both is essentially same (1.17 FH; 1.174 VS).[/QUOTE]

That is interesting - I would say an equivalent property in VS would cost at least 10% if not more relative to FH. There are infill developments in FH and also noticed a lots of knockdown-rebuilds in last five years in FH (possibly due to lower initial cost), which could have impacted the above numbers.

 

I've always had the perception that Forest Hill is cheaper than the surrounding suburbs but never really looked into why. All the ideas indicated already would support this.

There's also the shopping centre. It's been in need of a makeover for 20 years now, it feels a bit nasty. I think it also drags down the overall perception of the suburb.

 

Chase has been 'upgraded' over the last few years with focus on food/ fresh - the level 3 food and entertainment area is not bad. Talking about shopping centers, Knox is looking really dated, especially compared to the new Glen.

 

So run down shopping center, far away from train station and 3 bedder stock are the reasons for smaller median of Forest Hill. Would this apply to just the suburb or whole of FH highschool zone in Blackburn south, VS and parts of Burwood east?

 

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-forest+hill-135301766 (3/1/2; House size 108m2; Land size 587m2; FH secondary zone; VS zone currently starts from opposite house)


Thinking of bidding for this one on Saturday 13th. Cafes, Woolies, Childcare, Parks everything is within 5-10 minutes walking distance and Nunawading station is just 4 minutes/2.5km drive away. Backing onto reserve, can put a gate in back fence for direct access if council approves. Agent suggested price guide 890-970; RP Data says estimated value 880,000 ($793,000 - $969,000); Hoping top bids in range of $1.1-$1.15M. Would be very happy if we get this property, looks perfect for our two toddlers.


What am I missing here? Commission housing? Noise from main roads? or this is just standard FH house selling for its 1.0M median?

 

I think this is a lovely house and the location is good. Good Luck!

The median price is less than $1m, perhaps the lowest around its surrounding suburbs.
I think the issue with Eastern suburbs around Box Hill or Glen Waverley is that there are many Asians and they only look at suburbs will good public school or train or tram or many Asian shops and restaurants. I don’t think forest hill has any of these to attract Asian buyers that’s why the price is lower. By the way, they also look at Feng Shui...

 

Good luck for tomorrow. Good location and nicely presented, with renovated bath and kitchen which is likely to drive buyer interest. Given the outside of the house is rendered, unless you have done a B&P inspection already, have a look under the house and see if the stumps are concrete (good) or timber. The soil around Forest Hill has high clay content and our house used to move a fair bit depending on the season/ weather.

 

Good luck for tomorrow. I hope you've done a B&P on this, rendering an old house may mean they've hidden something (or maybe not!, that's why I recommend a B&P).

 

Did you buy this one, auction was a hit and miss as the property was sold for 968,000, within the range for a change.

 

Decided to not buy after second inspection, my partner vetoed it at last stage. We have increased our budget and are now looking at properties in 1.25-1.4 range.

 

Care to share why it was vetoed? Was it something structural or the like?

 

I bet the school is one of the reasons why op did not buy. Op has kids and the schools in Forest Hill really aren’t that great.

 

Mostly because house itself was small and land though ~600sqm was sloping towards back more than for our liking.

We are okay with FHSC as our eldest is still 10+ years from junior secondary and school rankings could change in this time like what happened with highvale or we might just get fed up with area and decide to move to other suburb in “forever” home.

Are primary schools in FHSC bad as well?

 

I believe you should be able to close the deal on most of the properties close to 1.4M, anything below 1.3M for a family home has lot of interest and competing parties. All the best.