My take (as a Bayside local)
Manly: the 'blue riband' suburb. Plenty of very nice $1m+++ houses with views of the bay, and most other houses are well kept and relatively high value. You've got the marina, farmers markets, cafes, etc all along the water. Plenty of Range Rovers parked around the place, it's a fairly high income/white collar suburb, full of wealthy families or well-off empty nesters.
Wynnum: patchy - towards the water & around the golf course there are some beautiful homes and it's similar to Manly (high income), west of Wynnum Rd and near the train line it's more blue collar and a bit bogan. Plenty of value to be had in the right area, and there is a LOT of development going on right now so I'd expect the lower incomes to leave. Fundamentals are good - 15km from the city, good transport, shops nearby, etc. Influx of younger families/couples moving into the area. I don't think there would be another suburb in Brisbane with a wider spread of house prices: you could buy a shitbox on the train line for $350k, or a palatial mansion on the esplanade for $3m+.
Lota: east of Manly. Bit of an untapped resource - plenty of nice houses around here and cheaper than Manly. Similar to Wynnum in it's patchiness though.
Wello Point: beautiful suburb, established families & heaps of South Africans/English immigrants. Nice big low set houses on big blocks are the standard. Nice string of restaurants on Main St, Jaipur Palace does the best curry in Brisbane I reckon (should please the Poms)! Good schools, transport. Bit further out from the CBD though so the commute is a bit tougher than Wynnum/Manly. Has a really nice feel.
Ormiston: similar to Wello Pt.
Cleveland: a bit patchy. Some amazing houses near the water, some less so further out.
I reckon Wynnum/Manly is the go: you're 15km from the city (it's a 25min trip in peak hour over the bridge), 20min from the airport, 5min from the gateway to get to the Gold Coast, you've got good transport, near cinemas, near the water, and you can still get a lot of house for the money. I'm building near the golf course at the moment and just in my street there are four more houses that will be built soon (knock down rebuilds). Neighbouring streets there are another four I think, and prices are very much on the move.
