i share the same sentiments as JoeC and silver and would not invest in fairfield.
commercial/office property in fairfield city is dead. there seems to b a high vacancy rate especially for office. slow GROWTH...maybe even worse than before in some areas. the residential newer units dont seem to be performing well.
like travel bug mentioned fairfield alone covers alot of ground. you should also look into smithfield, fairfield west and other neighbouring areas which are more residentially concentrated. there have been MANY redevelopment (subdivision) activity around the aforementioned areas in the past twelve months (based on observation)
to expand on sash:
demographics
cabramatta: vietnamese, chinese, cambodian + serbian, croatian
fairfield: bit more diverse + Assyrian, Lebanese, growth in Somalians (as another poster mentioned), more middle eastern backgrounds occupants
on a side note, i am a property student and came across this site doing research for my invesment analysis report (my focal point being cabramatta...an area im optimisitic about
). hoping to pick up and learn a few things from this forum. hi to all.
you might find this recent (sept 4 article) in the SMH useful. YES, all low vacancy rates are concentrated around the 2166 - 67 area
however, among those, fairfield is ranked 6th. have a look @ the other areas on the list.
good luck to the OP with his/her investment decisions
http://www.smh.com.au/national/top-10-easiest-and-hardest-postcodes-to-find-a-rental-20090904-fb0p.html