Housing commission. How many is too many?

We're in Vic and currently working with a BA in NSW (g'day if you're reading).

We have a budget of up to $350k looking for a tidy house on a block with GF potential, (who isn't!).

A place came up yesterday that seemed to fit the bill. North St Mary's.

Looks tidy, nice road and well kept area.

We know certain parts of West Syd are not great but realise our budget restricts.

All looked good on paper, the off putting thing was the number of commission houses local to it. Over 40% of the houses in the immediate block were HC.

Just looking for some opinions on to what people think would be too high a proportion of HC to consider?

Cheers.
 
40% concentration is too high in my opinion. With some looking around you can get a similar deal without the HC impact.
 
Is it 40% cause the other 60% have been pulled down and rebuilt due to gentrification?

Im guessing not, but if that was the only issue, having a high proportion of HC wouldnt put me off.
 
Is it 40% cause the other 60% have been pulled down and rebuilt due to gentrification?

Im guessing not, but if that was the only issue, having a high proportion of HC wouldnt put me off.

40% sounds awfully high though.

To give some comparison, the highest concentrated suburbs in Perth are around 25% (Bentley and Karawarra).

Other suburbs in Perth with a general dodgy reputation are even lower - Hilton is around 10%, I think Kwinanna area overall was around 15%. (Although I suppose this is also evidence to say that there isn't a strong correlation between the DoH density and "dodginess")
 
Im not sure about other states, but in melbourne whole streets are, or were HC. heidleburg, Doveton, Ashwood come to mind.

Ashwood, and heidleburg are interesting because they are now gentrifying, and there are new builds popping up between the HC....
 
Nothing wrong with North St Marys, depends where you buy.

There's a street or two in there I personally wouldn't mind living in.

Closer to the shops, the worse it gets.

In saying that. Pretty hard to find a bargain there. Not sure knowing a BA in the area will help too much. Prices have gone WAY up there recently from what I have seen.
 
Just to clarify the OP, the whole suburb isnt 40% HC, I believe the surrounding immediate houses are 40% HC and 60% private ownership.

What I would have a concern about buying in a dense area of HC properties, but have no issues buying in a suburb that has HC properties and is gentrifying.

Nth St Marys has some pretty nice streets and also some really nasty ones so dont just go off street view. A feral with a green thumb is still a feral.
 
Personally, and in my opinion only, I wouldn't touch something with this high a % of surrounding HC stock. I can't comment on St Marys as we don't search that far, however even in the areas around Blacktown that we cover, we stay away from HC cluster streets and anything with more than 1/10 HC housing. It does depend on the area, and also the type of tenants naturally however.
Good luck with it all :)
 
What is also interesting is that people will often write off whole suburbs because of "its a HC suburb" stigma from years gone by without realising its almost entirely privately owned these days. I just bought in a 2770 suburb which often scoffed at as being a housos suburb, yet HC ownership is down to about 5% with the other 95% being owner occupied and investors.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. We were keen on this one until finding out about the concentration of HC's so we decided not to put an offer in, (to clarify, it was 41% of HC owned properties in the immediate block of houses I.e. of 44 houses back to back in one strip, 18 were HC).

Then, after reading posts today about not taking some risks and how areas gentrify and what not, (we're planning on holding long term), I started thinking maybe we should go for it. Thought I'd post on here for an option on first as I'm impatient so and so and find it hard to separate impatience from reason, (hence using a BA), I'm very good at talking myself into things if it means a fast result, regardless of outcome!

Thanks for the feedback, we'll keep looking.
 
There is no problem with housing commission area.
Just need to know if the price you are paying is justifiable to the property you're getting.

also be very careful which BA you choose, some BA are working with real estate agents just wanted to flick some properties to buyers who have no knowledge about the area/property and make a commission out of you and seller.

Just wondering which BA are you working with ?
 
Not sure I want to say who it is just now, no real reason not to I suppose, but it doesn't seem right?

Suffice it to say its a very reputable company who posts here regularly and had a lot of great recommendations.

To add to that, based on how long we've been working with this BA and the types of properties we've been sent through, I've no reason at all to think that we're just being fed any old thing.

So far we've been very happy with the level of service.

Cheers.
 
There is no problem with housing commission area.
Just need to know if the price you are paying is justifiable to the property you're getting.

THe question is not about buying in an area with some HC stock. The question is whether or not to buy a house that has close to 50% of its neighbouring houses being HC stock. Two very different propositions from value and tenantability.
 
Not sure I want to say who it is just now, no real reason not to I suppose, but it doesn't seem right?

Suffice it to say its a very reputable company who posts here regularly and had a lot of great recommendations.

To add to that, based on how long we've been working with this BA and the types of properties we've been sent through, I've no reason at all to think that we're just being fed any old thing.

So far we've been very happy with the level of service.

Cheers.

I have a property in Warrego St nth St Marys.

Great st, great neighbors. The all watch out for each other. Paid $249k (overpaid IMO tho few gouses down sold same house for $275k few weeks later). It rents for $320/week.

Again it depends on the st.
 
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