Perth based looking to invest in Melbourne

[sagara0510]

Hi All.

Love this forum but first time poster. I was hoping I could get some advice on investments in Melbourne.

So a bit of background, I am currently living in Perth but recently my wife and I have been looking at property in Melbourne with the intention of having an investment there and the possibility of relocating to Melbourne on a permanent basis. Investment max is around the $550-600k mark

We recently attended a Central Equity 'Expo' where their reps tried to sell us an apartment in the Melbourne CBD area. Looking at the 2 bed, 2 bath & 1 car bay as a minimum size investment, they made it rather tempting with 10% deposit now and no more payments till completion. Additionally waiving their 'investor package' with $9k that gives you a guaranteed 5.5% return for the first year and a low stamp duty as well as other freebies like free flights to Melb etc.

It seemed a bit too good to be true so we didn't sign up and instead walked away to have some time to consider.

Has anyone here had any dealings with Central Equity before? I've read that buying in the Melbourne CBD is not a great idea because the market is pretty saturated with apartments at the moment.

I've also been looking at Eastern suburbs like Glen Iris, Box Hill and Doncaster area. I have seen there are quite a few apartments going up in Doncaster around the Westfield shopping centre but without having any prior dealings in that area, am a bit cautious.

Any advice/opinions welcome.

Thank you.

 

[Jake Milne]

It's good you didn't sign up to buy an inner city apartment. There is way too much stock coming online and if it wasn't for the developers intentionally drip feeding the market prices would most likely have seen a large correction.

In short, STAY CLEAR OF MELBOURNE CBD APARTMENTS.

With $600k you should be considering the blue-chip growth suburbs like St Kilda for example.

Glen Iris isn't the best market to invest in as it's primarily a PPOR suburb where houses are the most sought after property type and renting out an apartment is more difficult than suburbs closer in.

Doncaster again is mainly a housing market that has seen great growth due to steady population growth and development.

Box Hill again I'd stay clear of. Quite a bit of development which is saturating stock levels for apartments.

Here's a suburb list suitable for units from $550-$600k .Copy + Paste it into RealEstate.com:

prahran, vic 3181; prahran east, vic 3181; st kilda, vic 3182; st kilda east, vic 3183; st kilda west, vic 3182; elwood, vic 3184; albert park, vic 3206; middle park, vic 3206; south melbourne, vic 3205; balaclava, vic 3183; elsternwick, vic 3185; south yarra, vic 3141; windsor, vic 3181; toorak, vic 3142; malvern, vic 3144; hawthorn east, vic 3123; hawthorn, vic 3122; carnegie, vic 3163; brunswick, vic 3056; brunswick east, vic 3057; alphington, vic 3078; fairfield, vic 3078; richmond, vic 3121; burnley, vic 3121; abbotsford, vic 3067; collingwood, vic 3066; carlton, vic 3053; carlton north, vic 3054

 

[thatbum]

It seemed a bit too good to be true so we didn't sign up and instead walked away to have some time to consider.

Too good to be true? It sounds like an awfully average investment to me - even on their own numbers.

Have you look at what else you can get for that amount?