Perth for $400K?

had an IP in st james and wouldnt go back there. so so dodgy.

To me St James is fine (and a big step up from Bentley where I used to live).

* It's no South Perth, but some streets have those c1940s brick homes that must have some architectual value with far better streetscapes than Bentley and look a bit more solid than weatherboards etc in East Vic Park. There are however fewer units than other nearby suburbs that are more diverse.

* It's next door to Curtin Uni (dunno if this means it's full of student share houses or not?).

* There's no shops to speak of in the suburb itself, but it's adjacent to shopping centres at East Vic Park and the cafe strip at Vic Park

* It's within 8km of the CBD

* There are reasonable bus services and you can walk to the train in a pinch

* It has quiet local streets.

* The area's catchment is average socio-economics

Schools might be the weak point (compared to South Perth/Manning which has a wider choice). The local Catholic school underperforms badly http://www.myschool.edu.au/Main.asp...=WA C0000001019&DEEWRID=231&CalendarYear=2009 but the Islamic school in nearby Bentley does well http://www.myschool.edu.au/Main.asp...A I0000001397&DEEWRID=14323&CalendarYear=2009 as does the Bentley state primary school.

So unless the area has gone seriously down hill in the 15-20 years since I lived nearby, I reckon St James is sound.
 
crime there is off the planet (that brounleigh towers thing isnt going anywere and the surrounding getto is blight on the face of Perth...possibly the worst streetscape I have seen here) and the student share houses (complete with dead gardens or paved verges) continue to proliferate. the very high state hosuing and social problems attached are also a problem.
it could be ok, but IMO too many negatives and too much risk
 
had an IP in st james and wouldnt go back there. so so dodgy.


Hahaha. We used to dream of living in St James when we got married, but alas couldn't afford it.


We ended up buying the other side of the highway in Queens Park. Now that is dodgy....although, when you keep stepping further out, it just gets worse and worse as you go down the line.


South Perth ---> Como ---> Kensington ---> St James ---> Bentley ---> Queens Park ---> Beckenham ---> Drossville etc
 
How long ago did you have your IP there Ausprop?

I have a friend that lives there and i must say i think its orright... not the best but not the ghetto you describe

?
 
South Perth ---> Como ---> Kensington ---> St James ---> Bentley ---> Queens Park ---> Beckenham ---> Drossville etc

Interesting.

I live in South Perth but ideally would like to invest at the Como/ Kensington level (if it werent for tight cash).

I wonder where East Vic Pk would fit in there? After Kenny...?
 
crime there is off the planet (that brounleigh towers thing isnt going anywere and the surrounding getto is blight on the face of Perth...possibly the worst streetscape I have seen here) and the student share houses (complete with dead gardens or paved verges) continue to proliferate. the very high state hosuing and social problems attached are also a problem.
it could be ok, but IMO too many negatives and too much risk

Although Brownlie Towers is in Bentley, I'd have thought the stigma would have stopped there and not affected St James at all (just like it would not affect Wilson which is closer to Brownlie on the other side of Manning Rd).

Having said that, how bad is Bentley?

Admittedly Brownlie Towers has a reputation for suicides but people are doing stuff to improve it eg http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=3708 . And I never had any problems when catching the bus from there.

Surprisingly the primary school catchment for Bentley is poor (but not poor poor like country areas) http://www.myschool.edu.au/Main.asp...WA G0000005041&DEEWRID=9859&CalendarYear=2009 (though I don't know how things add up to 120%!). Bentley state primary school's results are OK and the Islamic school rates very highly according to the stats.

But I agree that Curtin is such a magnet for overseas students that the area always will be a transient rental area without neat gardens or owner-occupiers doing value-adding. That is unless Vic Park becomes trendier (it's got a long way to go but it's different to 15 years ago).

If this happens St James would be the first to gentrify, followed by Bentley much later (as a precedent, look at Karawarra now compared to 20 years back). And suprisingly Bentley does have a dress circle of big houses on a hill with city views around Bunning Park (just 100m west of Brownlie Towers).

Melbourne suburbs like Richmond, Collingwood, Williamstown, South Melbourne and Flemington have similar (if not larger) complexes to Brownlie Towers. If buying nearby they'd put me off as well, but their presence doesn't seem to have stopped those suburbs becoming expensive.

(Brownlie Towers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brownlie_Towers_Bentley,_Western_Australia.jpg )
 
Last edited by a moderator:
One of my rules to investing is just because 'you' wouldnt live in an area does not mean that 'others' dont want to rent there and therefore its a bad area to invest in.
 
I wornder why no one mentioned Riverton, Willetton, Parkwood, Ferndale ,and Lynwood. They are @12K-14K from CBD, Good bus services, bus connection to Bull creek and Cannington train stations. I bought 4 properties in these area. Easy to rent, Good schools.
Thanks.
 
our IP in st james was sold about 2 or 3 years ago. built it for $200k and sold it for $400k so did ok. Alot of the tenants of brownlie use to walk past on their way to vic park to buy their beers etc. The major break in that occurred whilst we owned it as a rental was quite an invasion -just completely smashed the window and wandered in (and then out). The cops gave me (the landlord) a really hard time... pretty much saying that not having full security andmmonitored alarms etc in that area is a breach of human rights! (my response was if they want it they can pay for it). My mate who built his PPOR next door got broken into later and when they asked the neighbours they said "oh yeh there was some guy wandering around on your roof"!! seriously, drive those streets around brownlie - I have never seen streets in perth where the houses are fully roller shut/barricaded with dudes sittign around on old cars out the front. Real LA style. IMO st james can never gentrify until brownlie goes - a long long time, if ever.

my mate owned a place out there last year but was forced to sell it. he seemed ok with the nightly corroborees on the verges around him. not my style but he thought it was still a good potential area.
 
yeah st james does have the same feel as ashfield in some areas. But there are towers of state housing all over perth. Vic Park, Mount Lawley, Maylands all have unsavoury unit complexes.

Besides, Brownley towers is in Bently :)

Break-ins occur in every suburb right?

What is the process of gentrificaiton anyway? Is it because it is affordable that young people can afford to buy and slowly make improvements, or does have something to do with State housing being sold off? Or is it prices increasing such that poorer people have to move to more affordable suburbs? Or perhaps a combination of all three?
 
Ashfield - I'm not sure about the other suburbs mentioned above but Ashfield, as a very small suburb is pulling together and fighting to get rid of the anti-social behaviour of some homeswest tenants. Their are many good homeswest tenants, and it only takes a few bad ones that do all the break-ins. I think it is slowly improving. Closer to the river and furtherest from shops is best IMO.

http://eastern.inmycommunity.com.au...s/Mayor-near-tears-in-emotive-debate/7545301/

http://www.ashfieldcan.info/stop.html

jUNE 2008 http://www.bassendean.wa.gov.au/3_your_council/agendas_minutes/ashfield-2008-06-11-min.html
 
go north
value's better there
go north
where the road are clear
go north
where the skies are blue
go north
it's what you should do.
 
OK lets have some suggestions for northern suburbs that fit the criteria.

$400K, new-ish 3/2, walk to train station, closeby services...
 
Back
Top