List of bad suburbs in WA

Any suggestions on the 'bad' suburbs in South-west (Kwinana-direction), North-west (Joondalop - direction) in Perth region?

'Bad' means anything you consider not worth investing in, i.e. commission housing, crime rates, low growth, etc.
 
Some of those 'bad' points aren't equal.

For example people have had some good returns in Balga which is considered to have too much housing commission still and high crime. These 2 things don't preclude the ability for profit or high growth.

Many of the high housing commission areas with high crime are undergoing urban renewal especially if they are in the areas that need infill and within 15kms from the city.

Suburbs that I would do extra homework on to assess crime vs profit vs good tenants would be:

- Balga (big growth slow down)
- Westminster
- Nollamara
- Koondoola (will be zoned higher density within 5yrs)
- Girrawheen (will be zoned higher density within 5yrs)
- Eden Hill
- Langford
- Orelia
- Parmelia
- Mandurah
- Rockingham

I'm sure there are more and as I said all those suburbs could be good investment areas but ones you might not want to live in yourself :)
 
Adding to westminster's list, areas considered traditionally bad include Medina, Parmelia in the Kwinana suburbs, and Merriwa and Butler in the northern (past-Joondalup) suburbs.

But nothing like good research to dispel a bad stereotype.
 
- Mandurah
- Rockingham

I think these areas are far too large to generalise. They both encompass very varied areas, good and bad. You could start a sub-list of bad areas in each of these towns.

I personally would avoid Coolongup, in Rockingham, but I'm always on the lookout for a piece of Palm Beach or Shoalwater. I wouldn't mind being neighbours with Rolly Tasker in Port Mandurah on a nice north facing waterfront block, but I wouldn't leave my car unattended for too long at night in some areas east of the town.

I guess what I am saying is you are asking a fairly subjective question and my prejudices are squarely aimed at places like Gosnells, Thornlie, Kenwick and out Armadale. Kwinana would be on my list too but some people made good money there in the last upswing. However as stated these are my prejudices not actual fact. I'm sure their are people living there who happily wouldn't choose to live anywhere else and see great advantage in their area.

It's a bit like the old North/South of the river bias that is so entrenched in many Perth residents.

If you want an objectivity, look at the stats: what crime is most prevalent, what sort of insurance claims are made and how expensive is insurance, Census demographics etc. for real comparisons.

Cheers,
Beef.
 
Westminster, activeman and Beef_Hooked - TGreat thanks for such a prompt reply.

Indeed the purpose of my inquiry is not to find the objectivity rather than opinions of fellow-investors. You comments are greatly appreciated.

I have just started to look in Perth and would like to exclude some lemons based on qualitative and quantitative data to narrow down my preliminary analysis.

Also may be you know know suburbs where there are both new and quite old dwellings stand together, or predominantly old properties are located (My strategy is based on adding some value, so would like to look for established and used properties with land in the first place)

Thanks again!
 
I would include:
Baldivis
Cockburn Central (apartments)
Success
Atwell
Aubin grove
Hammond Park

And basically any other new subdivision...

Despite many of these areas dropping in value significantly (many properties below initial purchase price) they will have average or below average growth in the future. The reasons for this include:
  • Lots of land supply
  • Low land value in new properties (some as low as 30% land value)
  • Mortgage belt - supply is affected by the interest rate (as rates rise more supply comes onto the market).
  • Buildings will aesthetically depreciate - making the area just another suburb.
  • It will be along time before additional future gentrification of the area.
  • No value adding upside.

Hope that helps.
 
How's crime in the Redcliffe, Belmont, Cloverdale, Kewdale pocket these days? With the stadium and Great Eastern Highway upgrade, the area is surely set to explode, but the old image of these being rough suburbs probably needs to be updated?
 
I don't know that there is a "bad suburb" IMO even in "bad areas" there may be good investments depending on your situation. My first purchase was in Medina because that is all I could afford at the time, I bought the best I could find, (B&T, elevated, cul-de-sac, on a big block) moved in and did some renos. Sold it 3 years later for three times what I paid. I was lucky that prices sky-rocketed in 2002 but I didn't have a crystal ball when I was deciding on that first purchase. However, I did look at rail development and freeway plans before taking the plunge.

I'd move back to Medina if it wasn't a big commute for my partner's current job. Never had any problems with crime, loved the big old trees, close to beaches and country town feel of it. Yet it was a "bad suburb" when I bought (probably still is) but it will rise again due to low entry prices, infrastructure development and reasonable commute times to Fiona Stanley Hospital and proximity to Wattleup/Hope Valley industrial area.
 
How's crime in the Redcliffe, Belmont, Cloverdale, Kewdale pocket these days? With the stadium and Great Eastern Highway upgrade, the area is surely set to explode, but the old image of these being rough suburbs probably needs to be updated?

The only problem about those areas is the large percentage of early morning flights (5-7am) that depart from the domestic airport and the associated noise. I rate Redcliffe probably the worst out of that lot due to it's proximity to the airport.

Perth Domestic Airport is only going to get busier. Belmont feels a little dodgy, but that's only from walking through it and catching the 37 bus through it a few times.
 
Piara Waters probably has a bad rep after the weekend.... the result of one guy's party.

that party was in a warehouse in an industrial estate.

a conveniently unquoted truth to ram home fascist state powers.

the police went and SOUGHT that party out with full riot gear, horses, dogs and vans.

the police called the media.

the police then rammed home state policy seeking to police what they deem an "out of control party", with only a facade of real checks and balances.
 
possibly true

However, my point was that the perceived bad areas are often just perceptions, because the media generally only reports the bad things. Piara Waters, unfairly, will for a period of time have the perception that it is full of hooligans smashing the place up every Saturday night. Unfortunately, most people don't look further than popular media for their information.
 
Redcliffe belmont

In regard to redcliffe & planes. There are two specific areas of Redcliffe, an area under the flight path and an area not under the flight path which is referred to as "the top end". So yes I agree it is perception. A lot of people FIFO are moving into these areas so they don't spend their down time traveling to airport & paying parking or taxi costs.
 
IMO redcliffe deserves the reputation it has, the flight noise is shocking, the crime is high and if you want to live on the edge visit the IGA there... never has a credit card been inspected with such suspicion (must have photo ID). That's when you make it to the counter because there is always an argument going on about somehting. Gotta love the $2 2 litres of mik tho... bargain. the smell of avgas on the morning air is truly disgusting and I genuinely worry about what the health effects on the local population
 
IMO redcliffe deserves the reputation it has, the flight noise is shocking, the crime is high and if you want to live on the edge visit the IGA there... never has a credit card been inspected with such suspicion (must have photo ID). That's when you make it to the counter because there is always an argument going on about somehting. Gotta love the $2 2 litres of mik tho... bargain. the smell of avgas on the morning air is truly disgusting and I genuinely worry about what the health effects on the local population

and again, quoted for truth.

"can ya smell that?"
"what darl'....? the serenity?"
"nup - avgas. nothing like the smell of avgas in the morning!"
 
Guys, Redcliffe might be interesting... But the original question was more about southwest and northwest directions. .. To JL and Kwinana. Any more insight for bad suburbs in your view?
 
In regard to redcliffe & planes. There are two specific areas of Redcliffe, an area under the flight path and an area not under the flight path which is referred to as "the top end". So yes I agree it is perception. A lot of people FIFO are moving into these areas so they don't spend their down time traveling to airport & paying parking or taxi costs.

I question this. I am FIFO and only one person I know out of about 50 lives close to the airport and he lives in Belmont. These are 8/6 and 5/2/4/3 FIFOers so they are regular flyers.

The ones on longer rosters would most definitely not live near the airport as they fly much less. I.e. a 4/1 roster worker would only fly twice in 5 weeks.

In the end a $50 taxi fare is the last thing you care about after working 12-14 hours on site.

I believe the top end comment refers to Rivervale not Redcliffe, but happy to be informed.
 
I question this. I am FIFO and only one person I know out of about 50 lives close to the airport and he lives in Belmont. These are 8/6 and 5/2/4/3 FIFOers so they are regular flyers.

The ones on longer rosters would most definitely not live near the airport as they fly much less. I.e. a 4/1 roster worker would only fly twice in 5 weeks.

In the end a $50 taxi fare is the last thing you care about after working 12-14 hours on site.

I believe the top end comment refers to Rivervale not Redcliffe, but happy to be informed.
yes true, the 2 people I know who are fifo live in Eden Hill and Henley Brook and they both consider those suburbs close and convienient to airport.
 
I believe regular FIFO workers want to be with in a 20-30 min radius from the airport.

Geographically that opens up a lot of suburbs to live in.
 
Back
Top