Kennethkohsg said:
Dear Paulie,
1 It has been said that the same house in the Anchorage Estate, if it is physically located within the Shoalwater suburb (WA 6169) boundary (as most of the later land releases are), the same house will command a $20,000 - $30,000 price premium over a similar house than if it is physically being located within the Rockingham suburb(WA 6168) boundary (where most of the earlier first 11 Stages of land releases are located).
2. This is because the Shoalwater suburb has historically been a better and more expensive suburb than the Rockingham suburb.
3. Is this true? And are there supporting sale evidences from your side to help confirm/disconfirm this claim?
If I had to choose between a random property in Shoalwater and a random property in Rockingham, I'd pick Shoalwater any day.
Shoalwater is a small suburb on the south-western tip of the peninsula between Safety Bay Yacht Club and Rockingham Beach (on the other side of Point Peron). Apart from Safety Bay Road it has no through traffic. No part of Shoalwater is more than 1km to the beach. About 60% is west of Safety Bay Rd and a leisurely 5-10 min stroll to the sand. Housing would mostly be 1950s-70s, mostly brick.
I regard Shoalwater as a quality suburb defined by the bay (bearing the same name). It has less of that 'endless suburbia' look of newer, rawer suburbs like Cooloongup.
The suburb called Rockingham comprises:
a. waterfront houses along Mangles Bay west and east of the old CBD (at one time very modest shacks but now massively redeveloped/redeveloping)
b. the old CBD at Parkin St
c. a light industrial precinct at Dixon Rd
d. a corridor along Read St comprising the high school, the massive Rockingham City Shopping Centre, council chambers and some commnunity facilities (this is the 'new' town centre), TAFE and uni
e. a 1970s housing area immediately west of Read St
f. a newer (1980s-early 90s) housing estate east of Read St opposite the high school
g. Read Street, which splits the suburb, and Ennis Ave to the east, which seperates Rockingham from Hillman
Apart from the homes at a. the average Rockingham house will be 2 or 3 kilometres from the beach and not as easily accessible to it by foot compared to any part of Shoalwater or most of Safety Bay. It is more hemmed in by roads and it is just like a 1970s suburb in any capital city.
Rockingham wins points over Shoalwater for its convenience to Rockingham City Shopping Centre and public transport. Other lifestyle benefits are less than Shoalwater IMHO.
That is Rockingham, the suburb.
But note that, like Frankston (which is sometimes used to cover areas as disparate as Frankston North and Frankston South), Rockingham is often used loosely to mean a much bigger area. In this usage, it encompasses suburbs as disparate as Safety Bay, Waikiki, Cooloongup, Hillman, Port Kennedy, Warnbro and Rockingham itself. This is because, again like Frankston, Rockingham is the local government centre and shares the same name as its core suburb. Hence if someone refers to 'Rockingham' you must confirm whether they mean the entire district or the suburb described above.
Peter