Where to live in Perth???

[Guest ronald p cooper]

Very much so, north of the swan is on thw whole more exspensive, a lot of new expats chose the area, up until the train line ends for city commutes, so check out distance from rail stations. i have lived in aus since 1970 and lived and worked in all states. Southy of the river price depends on how close you are to the city or Freemantle which is the in place and very pricey. a good location with price access to city and beach would be Rockinham. with out the beach try Midland more old money area. hope this helps.

[kangaroo.bruce]

woodvale.................you're having a laugh............lmbo

i wouldn'd let my kids live there for $10000000000000000000000000

ps

and the schools worse

[Paul1Perth]

With your budget you might struggle getting a property close to the beach within easy reach of a train station and/or freeway. The further North or South, out of the City you go the cheaper the plots and houses will be. Downside of that is further to travel to Perth, less amenities, newer suburbs tend to have smaller closer together houses, less vegetation and looks a bit like a giant sandpit in some of the newer suburbs, the developers tend to rip up vast swathes of land and build massive new suburbs that take a while to look good. Not all bad though. Some of the newer ones near the beach will look like a bargain in a few years as Joondalup gets bigger and the freeway goes further North.

I think one of the posters comments about the freeway being like the M25 is a bit over the top. We still have a couple of hours in the morning and evening when it's busy and the rest of the time it's OK. Traffic usually moving at a decent pace. Nothing like the M25 I remember from back in the 80's, I don't think it will have improved.

 

Don't know why one poster didn't like Woodvale, we live quite close and have friends there and it's fine. Maybe he had a bad experience? I think you would be better to rent for a while and have a good look round different suburbs North and South.

 

We are in the North and love it. We had a look South and drove down the old road through Kwinana and that put us off moving down there. Having said that Rockingham has had lots of money spent on it and has a nice beach frontage, we just didn't consider it. Secret Harbour is another nice place if you like the beach. Don't know what the transport to the city is like from there though.

 

Good luck.

[Guest xMarcusx]

I think Popstars post is a very good summary. We've been here for 9 months (family of 4) and love living in the NOR area.

 

Choosing where to live whilst gazing at a map and some websites is very sureal. I think the best you can hope for is to give yourself a shortlist of areas based on your price range and anything else you want to consider. (Schools, beach, shopping, transport.) Try and pick up a holiday rental for 2-3 weeks when you arrive to base youself in, ideally close to the areas you are considering. When you arrive drive around these areas you've shortlisted and see if you think you could live there or want to live there. It is very subjective I know people who refuse to consider one area but other who think it's excellent.

 

When we arrived we had a shortlist of suburbs North of Duncraig and West of the Mitchell Freeway, as we wanted to be close to the beach, but South of Kinross. We thought that Mindarie, Clarkson, Butler etc were to far North for us for commuting to the CBD during rush hour. (I get the train every day from Whitfords at around 7.30 and am at my desk by 8.15.) In the end we spent 3 days in the car with our children driving, stopping and shops and playparks and quickly built up a shortlist of areas we really liked, we'd then go back to the holiday rental and look for properties in those areas online. We concentrated on areas from Kinross to Duncraig. In our experience you'll pay $450 - $550 per week for a 4 bedroom house in these parts NOR suburbs, most are 4 bedroom. As a general rule we've found that the further North you go from Duncraig and Sorrento the cheaper rentals become, but the further west you go from the Mitchell Freeway to the beach the more expensive the rentals become. So a beachside property in Hilarys will cost you more than a beachside in Mullaloo but both will cost you more than a similar house in Padbury. But there are always fluctations.

 

If schools are a key factor for you check out the department of education website for WA. It lists all the schools and you can check out their academic perfomance. Woodvale and Duncraig both have good reputations in the area as good state schools but you also have the option of looking at private schooling both at Primary and Secondary level, and the costs are not the astronomical private school fees that you'll see in the UK. In the North there are a number of options. The largest segment of private primary schools are the Catholic schools run by CEO WA and there are several private primaries in the North. The same applies at secondary level with many Independant, Catholic and Anglican Schools in the area. The advantage of a Private School is that there are no issues with catchement, but as you can see most are affliates with a religion and most have waiting lists but they do free you up to move around without worry of having to change schools.

 

Good Luck

[PityTheFool]

Great posts everybody, very useful info re; areas / suburbs, loads to research!!! :confused:

 

Thanks a lot - please keep 'em coming!

[tonyman]

there are a few miss leading quotes on this thread , someone said 45 mins from hocking to the city , thats in more or less stand still traffic .......if you leave at the right time it can be done in 15 mins once you hit the freeway ......anything before 6am and your ok .........we did nor when we first came over but found there were just too many brits and so busy ,Joondaloop /Lakeside is now spot the Australian ,they call it little Britain.......SOR is more multi cultural and my advice would be to look at Leeming , Livingston canning Vale and Thornlie /Forest Lakes ...............central for everything

[PityTheFool]

thanks tonyman,

 

we had thought about the number of British migrants - although nice to not be the only Brits we wouldn't want to live in a 'little britain'!

 

 

We haven't really looked SOR, what are the train links like to the CBD and how long would it take (train and car) in ruah hour?

[tonyman]

thanks tonyman,

 

we had thought about the number of British migrants - although nice to not be the only Brits we wouldn't want to live in a 'little britain'!

 

 

We haven't really looked SOR, what are the train links like to the CBD and how long would it take (train and car) in ruah hour?

 

Hi , depending on where you live SOR there are several routes you could take to get to the city , trains are easy just park n ride , SOR has two lines , the freeway and the Armadale line ,....rush hour via train wouldnt be a prob , ive left my place near Canning Vale to get to Freo in good time and found that ive left too early ,probs 20 mins in bust traffic tops 25 ..........

[Harpersgirl]

If you're looking to commute by train its useful to check out suburbs close to the stations. There's also the Mandurah line serving SOR which would open up the City of Melville (15 mins to CBD) and City of South Perth (10 mins to CBD) suburbs to you. And if you're considering Fremantle area (loads going on there!) then check out the Freo line into the city and the stations along the way which would be just under a 30mins commute.

 

You can use this site to check train and bus timetables;

http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/TimetablesMaps/www.transperth.wa.gov.au/TimeTables/tabid/235/Default.aspx?UserInputServNum=&Direction=outbound&UserInputServiceProvider=&FromLoc=&SchoolBusVehicleType=false&Date=13%2f12%2f2011&find%2btimetables.x=&find%2btimetables.y=&TrainVe

 

And this site is useful for which suburbs are in which City (like our councils!) and their proximity to the CBD;

http://www.aussiemove.com/city/city.asp?f=9&c=7

 

I've also found Google maps to be useful for plotting journey's via public transport using their directions option. This gives you routes and how long it will take you if you know where you're going to and from.

 

We live in Winthrop. We needed to be fairly central as my husband works in Floreat NOR, my oldest daughter Fremantle and my twins in Canning Vale. All of them get into work in under 30 mins with the girls using buses and the chaps driving :biggrin: