Hello ladies, I'm looking at moving to Melbourne next year and wanted some recommendations on suburbs to live in. I would prefer suburbs with good access to public transport if close to the city and good child cares and schools for my 2 children. Is it better to live close in the city or a lot further out in the country areas?
Moving to Melbourne - nice areas to live with children
Moving to Melbourne - nice areas to live with children
Posted in:
Health & Wellbeing, Things to do and see, Education, Kids, Money
5 Replies
You need to be more specific about your budget before you start taking advice on where to live. Are you buying or renting and how much do you want to spend? Do you want a house or an apartment?
Also will you be working in the city? If so then yes you want to be closer rather than farther out. If not then it might not be that important.
My budget is pretty flexible I've been looking around the South Yarra area so far. travelling for work doesn't matter either as I may not be working in the city anyway. I would prefer not an apartment but a terrace house size is fine as long as it has a small courtyard.
I'm from the south east suburbs, Ferntree gully. Roughly 40 minutes from the city, about the same on the train-obviously depends on times you would travel. I have good public transport access, shops, plenty of schools to choose from etc. if you want terrace type houses, I'd imagine you'd need to look into Richmond etc so just a little bit out from the city.
I lived in Toorak (next to Sth Yarra) for 8 years when I was in my twenties and it was an awesome lifestyle just off Chapel St. Lots of shopping, clubbing and brunching. However I must admit we decided to move over to Altona when we had a baby. We wanted safer wider streets and a back yard for him to play in.
If you have an unlimited budget I would suggest perhaps Toorak, Malvern, Camberwell those sorts of suburbs. Childcare centre and schools will be pricey and have waiting lists of up to two years. I have a friend that works in childcare over in Richmond and most of the centres are 24mths waiting list.
I definitely recommend coming over the bridge and looking in the west. Williamstown, Newport, Yarraville, Seddon, Altona are all very much up and coming areas and still very close to the CBD. You could get a nice property with some yard and possible even near the beach. Once again there will probably be wait lists for childcare - perhaps 12months or so.
Pakenham is still growing, heaps of schools, parks, sports and is fairly cheap with decent size backyards. There are new schools being built and a few new daycare centres too. About an hr from Melb and close to Gippsland and not ar from the beach either