Where To Live in Melbourne: East, West or North?

When moving to Melbourne, Victoria, one of the biggest problems is to shortlist a suburb. Where to live? Luckily it’s a very big area to choose from and most of the suburbs are safe, clean and worth considering. 

But asking locals can sometimes send you down a rabbit hole of confusion because everybody loves where THEY live. The thing is that their lifestyle and budget may not be the same as yours.

As with everything, there are priorities.  Most of my clients list these three:

• Schooling for the children
• Safe neighbourhood
• Easy access to the office

Those are fine, but there are other things to consider and even prioritise alongside this.

• What do you and your family do outside of work/school?  
• Practically, what can you afford? No more than 30% of your salary should be your guide.
• What is a comfortable commute time and how will you commute?

Most importantly, I want to point out that you pay for lifestyle. Rental prices can be easily checked and gauged online, but that is looking at the brick and mortar house. It is not the lifestyle outside the door, the convenience of walking to a local café, butcher or baker.  The safety and close proximity of children walking to school or to their tennis lesson. 

When looking at rentals online, we can become greedy and excited about a 5 bedroom home that is cheapest, “look how much more I can get here!”

If rental prices in an area are high, it is a reflection of local infrastructure and quality of life and vice versa. The closer you are to public transport, or to the beach trails or to the city access, the more expensive the rent.

Remember: you can only see the house, not the lifestyle. Be careful; get the right advice that suits you and your family now and in the future.

It is about compromise! 

If you prefer the lifestyle, then compromise on the size of the home. Find something smaller that is in an environment you prefer.

Which is better: East, West or North Melbourne?

When answering these questions about Melbourne, we come to the great debate of where to live: East, West or North?

So I have chosen four suburbs to represent these areas:

• North: Craigieburn
• South Southeast: Sandringham
• West: Point Cook
• East: Glen Waverley

I am by no means biased towards any of these suburbs; they’re included because they are each 30kms from the Melbourne CBD, which is, on average where the majority of our clients want to be. For ease, I have navigated from the suburb train station because public transport is major consideration, and I needed a similar central point for each suburb.

I am presenting facts so please don’t shoot the messenger. Again, I say it is about balancing your priorties and comprimises. It is also about what you are used to and how you want to continue forward. There is no judging here. I have settled many families across all of these areas.

For ease of comparison, I have chosen FAQ that I receive about people priorities, i.e

• Schools
• Transport options
• Travel time into Melbourne CBD
• Crime and safety
• Gym
• Medical infrastructure
• Rent

Read full article on my website.