Brisbane Family Suburbs

[Guest]

Hi there, 

Looking for advice on Brisbane suburbs for families. I have browsed ALLLL of the online lists and drawn to Victoria Point or Sandgate, but this could be wrong. 

We will relocate in Jan 23 with a 2 year old and 5 year old. Ideally would like my son to start school as close to Feb as possible but taking advice from others here to not rush that when he's so young. 

Will be working CBD, but will have to travel and will also work flexibly. 

I prefer coastal to inland and have a 900k budget for a 4-5 bed property, need space to ensure family can stay with us. We both drive but I would prefer not to drive into CBD if we can avoid it. 

Help and advice, particularly from those in the area would be great. I've done so much research online, I want a 'real' view. 

 

TIA, Ashley 

[Johndoe]

5 minutes from Sandgate Take a look at Bracken Ridge. Lots more town houses since I posted this review 6yrs ago and many of the older cottages have been sold and redeveloped as has the shopping centre. Bus and train to the city every 15minutes. Now also has a nice public pool and huge skateboard park. Also Fitzgibbon. A relatively new development bordering Bracken Ridge.

 

[Guest]

18 hours ago, Johndoe said:

5 minutes from Sandgate Take a look at Bracken Ridge. Lots more town houses since I posted this review 6yrs ago and many of the older cottages have been sold and redeveloped as has the shopping centre. Bus and train to the city every 15minutes. Now also has a nice public pool and huge skateboard park. Also Fitzgibbon. A relatively new development bordering Bracken Ridge.

 

Wow. This is so helpful and so detailed which I love! 

We will definitely take a look here. 

I am wondering how long it will be realistically before we can buy. Do you know what the rental market is like in this area? 

I'm aware rental market in Australia is significantly tougher than the UK but its been 10+ years since I rented anywhere. 

 

[Johndoe]

3 hours ago, Constance said:

Wow. This is so helpful and so detailed which I love! 

We will definitely take a look here. 

I am wondering how long it will be realistically before we can buy. Do you know what the rental market is like in this area? 

I'm aware rental market in Australia is significantly tougher than the UK but its been 10+ years since I rented anywhere. 

 

Rental is tough everywhere atm. That said, from my experience, new migrants tend to get first shout as the realtors know that they're cashed up, won't trash the property, are reliable for rent, and are keen to get a foothold. Basically, migrants are considered to be top tenants.

[Guest]

Great, thanks again for the info. 

[Loopylu]

On 26/09/2022 at 00:16, Constance said:

Hi there, 

Looking for advice on Brisbane suburbs for families. I have browsed ALLLL of the online lists and drawn to Victoria Point or Sandgate, but this could be wrong. 

We will relocate in Jan 23 with a 2 year old and 5 year old. Ideally would like my son to start school as close to Feb as possible but taking advice from others here to not rush that when he's so young. 

Will be working CBD, but will have to travel and will also work flexibly. 

I prefer coastal to inland and have a 900k budget for a 4-5 bed property, need space to ensure family can stay with us. We both drive but I would prefer not to drive into CBD if we can avoid it. 

Help and advice, particularly from those in the area would be great. I've done so much research online, I want a 'real' view. 

 

TIA, Ashley 

Be very careful if you choose Sandgate. It’s a lovely spot but in recent years the avenues near to the water have flooded badly. We know a few people (including family) who have sold up after being flooded a couple of times. 
You may struggle to get 4-5 bedrooms near the water for $900k as house prices have rocketed in Brisbane. Houses of that size in good suburbs 20km to the north of the CBD on more than a postage stamp of land are going for $1.1 million at the moment. 

[Guest]

23 hours ago, Loopylu said:

Be very careful if you choose Sandgate. It’s a lovely spot but in recent years the avenues near to the water have flooded badly. We know a few people (including family) who have sold up after being flooded a couple of times. 
You may struggle to get 4-5 bedrooms near the water for $900k as house prices have rocketed in Brisbane. Houses of that size in good suburbs 20km to the north of the CBD on more than a postage stamp of land are going for $1.1 million at the moment. 

Thanks for the info. The flooding is something i have checked a few times, but hadn't checked Sandgate yet - good to know! 

[ramot]

39 minutes ago, Constance said:

Thanks for the info. The flooding is something i have checked a few times, but hadn't checked Sandgate yet - good to know! 

My son is in Eatons Hill, he has a good size 4 bed, 2 bath house on a generous block of about 1,000 sq metres, in a friendly cul de sac. Worth about 8to 850 hundred  thousand, I can’t help with schools.

[Guest]

Hi everyone, 

I just wanted to refresh this thread as we haven't yet moved (hoped for Feb but waited a few more months to reduce or mortgage contract clause). We are moving on 9th May and I have cast the net quite wide on our home search due to the issues of housing supply. 

As we are looking for a commuter train line to CBD (i will be working in Creek Street) with nice schools, community feel and ideally something going on (we live in a village at the moment that doesn't even have a shop). 

My long list is below and appreciate some of these areas might be a little out our price range or need checked for flooding - if its major flooding please feel free to flag to me! 

I'd appreciate any steers you have for a young family and if there's other areas you'd suggest I look into or agent recommendations. Ideally I'd rent first then buy. Budget is around 1100pw or 1m to buy. 

Thankful for any helpful advice, similar situations and local knowledge (I have researched extensively so really looking for the real life experience now). 

NORTH.... 

Northgate $$$

Hendra $$$

Banyo

Deagon

Sandgate 

Wavell Heights 

Carseldine 

SOUTH 

Coorparoo $$$

Holland Park 

Greenslopes

Camp Hill 

Mount Gravatt 

I had been looking at Morningside but seems to be quite badly flooded from the maps... 

I had also been looking at Manly, Wakerley and down to Birkdale but feel these are a little far from city and airport. 

Thanks in advance 

Ashley 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Guest

[InnerVoice]

@Constance you didn't include Wynnum on your list, which in my view is a lovely suburb and has a direct rail link to the city. Many of the suburbs you've listed are quite non-descript to be honest, but Wynnum feels more like a separate town than suburb and is also on picturesque Moreton Bay.

Flooding is definitely a consideration when moving to Brisbane but water doesn't travel uphill, so it's not necessarily about which suburb you live in but how elevated you are. When I returned to Australia in January 2011 I rented a room in Red Hill. Within a week we had three 'refugees' sleeping on the floor who's house had been inundated just a quarter of a mile - happy days!

[Guest]

7 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

@Constance you didn't include Wynnum on your list, which in my view is a lovely suburb and has a direct rail link to the city. Many of the suburbs you've listed are quite non-descript to be honest, but Wynnum feels more like a separate town than suburb and is also on picturesque Moreton Bay.

Flooding is definitely a consideration when moving to Brisbane but water doesn't travel uphill, so it's not necessarily about which suburb you live in but how elevated you are. When I returned to Australia in January 2011 I rented a room in Red Hill. Within a week we had three 'refugees' sleeping on the floor who's house had been inundated just a quarter of a mile - happy days!

Thank you. I looked at Wynnum just after I posted this and it seems a little more in our price range too and near the coast rather than the wetlands which appeals. 

How long would a train commute be roughly from Wynnum? 

Thanks, Ashley 

[Bobj]

3 hours ago, Constance said:

Thank you. I looked at Wynnum just after I posted this and it seems a little more in our price range too and near the coast rather than the wetlands which appeals. 

How long would a train commute be roughly from Wynnum? 

Thanks, Ashley 

55 minutes commute.

Cheers, Bobj.

[InnerVoice]

4 hours ago, Constance said:

Thank you. I looked at Wynnum just after I posted this and it seems a little more in our price range too and near the coast rather than the wetlands which appeals. 

How long would a train commute be roughly from Wynnum? 

Thanks, Ashley 

The train journey from Wynnum to Central takes about 40 minutes. Here's a link to the Translink journey planner, which might be useful for checking other commutes.

https://jp.translink.com.au/plan-your-journey/journey-planner/

If you want to be near the train then you should definitely check out suburbs along the Ferny Grove line (Ferny Grove to Central is about half an hour). North-west Brisbane is the hilliest part of the city (as names like Ferny / Arana Hills would suggest) and the least flood-prone. There are great bus links to the CBD too (some with dedicated bus lanes that miss all the traffic), so I wouldn't limit your search to only suburbs near a train line.

https://translink.widen.net/s/mzbn7bvkvb/220531-train-busway-tram-network-map

[Guest]

16 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

The train journey from Wynnum to Central takes about 40 minutes. Here's a link to the Translink journey planner, which might be useful for checking other commutes.

https://jp.translink.com.au/plan-your-journey/journey-planner/

If you want to be near the train then you should definitely check out suburbs along the Ferny Grove line (Ferny Grove to Central is about half an hour). North-west Brisbane is the hilliest part of the city (as names like Ferny / Arana Hills would suggest) and the least flood-prone. There are great bus links to the CBD too (some with dedicated bus lanes that miss all the traffic), so I wouldn't limit your search to only suburbs near a train line.

https://translink.widen.net/s/mzbn7bvkvb/220531-train-busway-tram-network-map

That's really useful thank you as I did wonder about the bus links too and if that was used as much in Brisbane and what the bus links were like. 

Thanks for the links as well. 

Much appreciated. 

[InnerVoice]

7 hours ago, Constance said:

That's really useful thank you as I did wonder about the bus links too and if that was used as much in Brisbane and what the bus links were like. 

Thanks for the links as well. 

Much appreciated. 

The buses here in Queensland are amazing. They're clean, comfortable, and go like rockets! I can't vouch for buses in other states, but ours are much nicer than anything I've travelled on in the UK.

[Guest]

14 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

The buses here in Queensland are amazing. They're clean, comfortable, and go like rockets! I can't vouch for buses in other states, but ours are much nicer than anything I've travelled on in the UK.

Thanks! I used to get the bus in Glasgow and Edinburgh but it's only in the inner city. 

Info is much appreciated and it helps as housing options are my main concern. 

[Ferrets]

We live in Wynnum and really enjoy it, but not a CBD commuter.

When we arrived we stayed in Brisbane holiday village in Eight Mile Plains.  It was an adventure with a 4 and 2 year old, but allowed us to find out feet.

We were there two months before moving to Wynnum (I was.looking for work rather than moving to job).

There is a busway at the nearby Westfield that is quick into Southbank.

Good luck.

[Guest]

On 04/05/2023 at 08:54, Ferrets said:

We live in Wynnum and really enjoy it, but not a CBD commuter.

When we arrived we stayed in Brisbane holiday village in Eight Mile Plains.  It was an adventure with a 4 and 2 year old, but allowed us to find out feet.

We were there two months before moving to Wynnum (I was.looking for work rather than moving to job).

There is a busway at the nearby Westfield that is quick into Southbank.

Good luck.

We are moving with a 2 and 5 year old, so similar situation. My son will restart primary one and I'm keen to find the right suburb so that I don't have to move him twice if i can help it. 

My husband can't start work until we have a suburb, house, school and nursery place (appreciating there may be nursery waiting lists like here). These feel like the main stresses as we haven't been able to sort them before arrival. 

[Quoll]

4 hours ago, Constance said:

We are moving with a 2 and 5 year old, so similar situation. My son will restart primary one and I'm keen to find the right suburb so that I don't have to move him twice if i can help it. 

My husband can't start work until we have a suburb, house, school and nursery place (appreciating there may be nursery waiting lists like here). These feel like the main stresses as we haven't been able to sort them before arrival. 

Lots of people do it in reverse! Get the job first because you don't want the granddaddy of commutes then look at the suburbs that are going to be so within commute range then narrow it down with the odd eyeball test (check out the neighbourhood - hoons in cars, boarded up shops, less than lovely folk littering the streets etc) then see what rentals are within your budget. You'll find that the schools sort of slot into place - if you dont want to live in a suburb you really don't want your kids to go to school in that suburb. The schools tend to reflect the SES of the suburb and if you dont find the government option appealing you can try the parallel Catholic system. TBH nobody gives a toss if a kid is out of school for 2-3 months while you get sorted.

[Loopylu]

14 hours ago, Quoll said:

Lots of people do it in reverse! Get the job first because you don't want the granddaddy of commutes then look at the suburbs that are going to be so within commute range then narrow it down with the odd eyeball test (check out the neighbourhood - hoons in cars, boarded up shops, less than lovely folk littering the streets etc) then see what rentals are within your budget. You'll find that the schools sort of slot into place - if you dont want to live in a suburb you really don't want your kids to go to school in that suburb. The schools tend to reflect the SES of the suburb and if you dont find the government option appealing you can try the parallel Catholic system. TBH nobody gives a toss if a kid is out of school for 2-3 months while you get sorted.

Sound advice, as usual!! 

[InnerVoice]

22 hours ago, Constance said:

We are moving with a 2 and 5 year old, so similar situation. My son will restart primary one and I'm keen to find the right suburb so that I don't have to move him twice if i can help it. 

My husband can't start work until we have a suburb, house, school and nursery place (appreciating there may be nursery waiting lists like here). These feel like the main stresses as we haven't been able to sort them before arrival. 

 

18 hours ago, Quoll said:

Lots of people do it in reverse! Get the job first because you don't want the granddaddy of commutes then look at the suburbs that are going to be so within commute range then narrow it down with the odd eyeball test (check out the neighbourhood - hoons in cars, boarded up shops, less than lovely folk littering the streets etc) then see what rentals are within your budget. You'll find that the schools sort of slot into place - if you dont want to live in a suburb you really don't want your kids to go to school in that suburb. The schools tend to reflect the SES of the suburb and if you dont find the government option appealing you can try the parallel Catholic system. TBH nobody gives a toss if a kid is out of school for 2-3 months while you get sorted.

 

4 hours ago, Loopylu said:

Sound advice, as usual!! 

 

Sound advice indeed, but @Constance has implied that her husband works from home, so maybe they need to get settled quickly for that reason.

[Guest]

He doesn't work from home, but most roles have been hybrid or from home. Hybrid would be best as I think it would help to integrate by being around people, and wfh alongside that gives a good balance. 

The oldest is only primary 1 and we expect him to be out of school for at least 3 months but have no concerns on that. 

I have 3 main areas to do drive bys on next weekend

[InnerVoice]

9 hours ago, Constance said:

He doesn't work from home, but most roles have been hybrid or from home. Hybrid would be best as I think it would help to integrate by being around people, and wfh alongside that gives a good balance. 

The oldest is only primary 1 and we expect him to be out of school for at least 3 months but have no concerns on that. 

I have 3 main areas to do drive bys on next weekend

Corporate Australia wants to see an end to WFH, so there might not be the same opportunities for that as in the UK. I know some who're still working to a hybrid model, but that's been through negotiation with their current employer (some insisting on it, or they'd resign!), but most new employees are likely to be office-based at least some of the time.

[BendigoBoy]

When it comes to wanting a return to office, I think this very much depends on the field and size of the company.

Certainly, in software engineering, myself and a large number of friends and colleagues have made the move out of the capital cities over the course of the pandemic and we've made it abundantly clear that any attempt to force us back to the office is going to result in them having to go to market to find replacements.

By the same token, a lot of firms have embraced going fully remote for engineers because it doesn't limit their hiring sphere.

I'm very appreciative of the fact that many occupations can't or won't be as accommodating; but it's not as black and white as "Corporate Australia wants to see an end to WFH".

[Marisawright]

17 minutes ago, BendigoBoy said:

When it comes to wanting a return to office, I think this very much depends on the field ...

I think it depends absolutely on the field.

The fact is that in Australia, big corporate employers prefer their employees to be in the office.  There is strong evidence to back that up. 

However those employers aren't stupid.  If you are in an occupation where skilled workers are scarce, or you're a long-standing employee with knowledge they can't afford to lose, they're not going to insist you come back to the office.   

If you're in a less skilled position, where it will be relatively easy to replace you, then you're much less likely to get away with WFH.   It does mean that a just-arrived migrant will be hurting their chances of a job if they insist on WFH, unless they have skills which are in short supply. 

The other side of the coin is that some small businesses, especially those with slim profit margins, gave up their offices completely during the pandemic and embraced WFH.  To give you one example, an events management company with about 30 employees gave up their offices and is now 100% WFH.  

Edited May 8, 2023 by Marisawright