Advice please - A vs B

Good morning members,

My girlfriend and I are looking to buy our second IP this melb property cycle.

I have been doing some research and I would appreciate any input from members on this:

Budget:
$530K Max

Objective:
Buy house with development potential - down the track, buy and hold for the moment. Potential 3 unit site, so 600-700+sqm

My parents sold their house on the Oak Park side of Glenroy - 907sqm. Prior to GFC was worth $840K, sold in Jan for $675.. Now similar sites are going for low 7's again. Sale was due to mum's health issues and they downsized to Trinity Beach in Cairns... (Cheap Holidays couple times a year for us now haha)...
2 doors down put 5 TH on the site, 2 doubles & 3 singles.
I would have loved to buy that off them for the $650 they offered it to me for. I could have serviced the loan but didnt have the deposit at the time..
Anyway, to the point..

Locations:
1. Albion, sunshine:
There have been big rail infrastructure spending in Footscray and now the Sunshine station rail goes under the road, which was previously a major issue. Tottenham (which is essentially a freight yard) now has walls built blocking it off and they are developing a lot of small apartments there for young professionals etc due to accessibility to city via rail. Footscray had a boom a while back and for the price tag you do not get much land. I would rather buy as close to Brunswick in Coburg if I were chasing a place like that...

So the better side of Albion has all of the access, land and amenities close and developers have snapped up a few over the last year or so.
+++ Im not sure what the plans are with the next station - Ardeer.
Albion is in that corridor and close to Maidstone etc..

2. Reservoir:
Preston is solid, as is Northcote.. Reservoir has had a lot of development work done on it. Area I like is the Edwards lake side down to Regent station, not the commission side of high st. Blocks around 700-900sqm.

3. Seaford/Frankston
I know there has been a lot of talk about Franga on the forum of late.. So sticking to Seaford, I see Bonbeach, Chelsea, Mordi etc are pricey.. Seaford is the next stop down.
I know they are going for $450-$500K range for decent site close to station etc with dev potential.
I am intrigued, where in Melbourne in 15 years time will you find a house on 600+ sqm of land 600m from the beach for $500K?
Given proposed population growth expected in Melb (3000 postcode growing at 1,500 per week - quickest in all of Aus), surely this must have LONG TERM flow on effect, as affordability trickles to other seaside suburbs there must come a time when the value proposition weighs up and Seaford does look more attractive.
On Seaford in general can someone please give me their thoughts, outlook etc and or counteract my thoughts.....

I know Grand_Dad has spoken about his lower value end of Frang and CG outlook there, and I believe in buying value wherever I look, but I do still wish to buy in a decent locality in Seaford, Frang.

Please forgive my structuring of this post. All of your thoughts and input is appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.
Dave
 
I watch Your Money Your Call with Margaret Lomas. She said Sunshine had most likely peaked and will stay flat for some time now.

I'm also considering similar idea - larger block to hold. My problem could be cash flow. The rent could be low in Seaford? I don't know. I'm going to do some more research today.

Good luck!
 
We bought in Albion in May with intention to renovate and subdivide for dual occupancy in a few years so I've been watching the local market obsessively and it is still definitely on the rise.
Not sure how long it will keep going up for but I don't think you could go wrong.
Sunshine was the highest growth area (alongside Toorak) two months ago and it is just booming. Sunshine I think has peaked but Albion is still a wise choice. And lots of young yuppies are moving into the area who've been priced out of Footscray/Yarraville etc so I imagine it will continue to go up for a while yet.

I'm no expert but this is what I'm seeing.

Also, in regards to Ardeer station, it's pegged to be added to the Metro line in the next couple years (I can't remember the exact year - 2016 perhaps).
 
Ardeer has a very high crime rate and generally a very bad reputation, I wouldn't want to live there right now. Plus the train is VLine, electrification is not going to happen in the near future.

Sunshine is getting very expensive, too overpriced IMO for what the suburb is. People are rushing to buy there on the media attention it is getting. Albion is benefitting from this and is more affordable. I'd also look into Sunshine North (the southern section). Doesn't seem to get much of a mention here but it's quite affordable in line with Albion's pricing. No local train station in this suburb but a short drive from both Albion/Sunshine stations and is a little closer to the city than Albion.

Braybrook is on the up as well but for me the suburb doesn't have the same appeal as Sunshine/Albion areas.
 
Thanks for your input guys.
I live in Deer Park myself so I am aware of the demographics.

I was really trying to weigh up Albion vs Seaford. My feeling is that Albion might see better CG in the short term, with the flow on effect from Footscray and Sunshine. Development potential is strong and already seeing subdivision happening.
 
Not familiar with Seaford but your comments on Albion sound on the money. There's been some talk of Albion benefiting from the airport link but as far as I know the train will only stop in Sunshine, so not sure what a passing airport train will do for Albion, although catching said train will be very easy for Albion residents.

Downside of Albion (and Sunshine, really) is low low rents. Sale prices may have gone up but the rents don't seem to have.
 
I stand corrected, that's great news for the area. Same with the unit rents, although house rents don't seem too flashy when properties are nudging 500K now.
 
Thanks for your input guys.
I live in Deer Park myself so I am aware of the demographics.

I was really trying to weigh up Albion vs Seaford.

Hi Mpire,

I live not too far from Deer Park and My biased view would be to go for Albion (although supply is very limited) out of the two suburbs because of closeness to CBD, access to free way, airport, zone 1 train station, possible airport link.

And if you need anything done to your property you are not too far away.
 
Hi

Sunshine is a good and upcoming suburb!!
I live in Deer Park only 3KM away from sunshine and the area is still HOT.

I just bought another property in Deer Park on Saturday, which has a opportunity to develop two town houses down the track.

Have a look at East Keilor, we have a property down their and we are in the process of building 2 x 30SQ town houses.

Cheers
JP
 
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