Living in the western suburbs
I think traditionally the western suburbs Melbourne has had a bit of bad press but with pressure on housing prices across Melbourne the west has seen a bit of a boom over the past few years but you can still pick up a house reasonably close to the CBD for a lot cheaper than going in any other direction from the centre of Melbourne. I think a few years ago you could live anywhere in the west for 400,000, you might have fewer options now but you can still get something around 500,000 or below which is a huge discount when you consider the median average in Melbourne is about 900,000+
Renting in the western suburbs
Renting is also much cheaper out here and for a bigger place, we now rent in sanctuary lakes point cook but before this, we rented in Docklands. In Docklands we were paying 650 a week for a large 2-bed apartment but needed at least 3 bedrooms. To stay in Docklands or city we were looking at 850 to 1000 a week. Go north we could maybe have got something in the region of 550 to 650, or east would have been even more unless you go a lot further out. All these areas have pretty high competition too and we needed to move quickly and didn’t really have too much spare time as we had just had a second child, stressful time but that’s another story.
Anyway we decided to have a look at the west, ideally, we would have moved to Altona but there wasn’t much available there but once you get as far as point cook than all the way out to Werribee you have an endless supply of 3/4/b bedroom houses for around $400 a month. We are paying $450 but actually could have got something for 350 to 390. In one day we looked at 14 houses on Sanctuary lakes and most of them we were the only ones look and the agents were almost begging us to put an offer so is definitely a renter market.
Travelling to the city from the west
The commute time from the western suburbs basically boils down to how close you live to the train station as there is an excellent service from Werribee to Southern Cross or Flinders street. The train is about 25/30 mins but depending on where you live you can spend the same time again getting to the station. See below for details specific for each area.
What are the western suburbs of Melbourne
The five districts in Western Suburbs Melbourne are the City of Brimbank, City of Hobsons Bay, City of Melton, City of Maribyrnong, and the City of Wyndham. See below for a full list of each suburb and the places within each.
City of Brimbank
Albanvale 3021
Albion 3020
Ardeer 3022
Brooklyn 3012
Cairnlea 3023
Calder Park 3037
Deer Park 3023
Delahey 3037
Derrimut 3030
Hillside 3037
Kealba 3021
Keilor 3036
Keilor Downs 3038
Keilor East 3033
Keilor Lodge 3038
Keilor North 3036
Keilor Park 3042
Kings Park 3021
St Albans 3021
Sunshine 3020
Sunshine North 3020
Sunshine West 3020
Sydenham 3037
Taylors Lakes 3038
City of Hobsons Bay
Altona(3018)
Altona North/East/Gate (3025)
Altona Meadows 3028
Laverton
Brooklyn 3012
Laverton 3028
Newport 3015
Spotswood 3015
Seabrook 3028
Seaholme 3018
South Kingsville 3015
Williamstown 3016
Williamstown North 3016
City of Maribyrnong
Braybrook 3019
Footscray 3011
Kingsville 3012
Maidstone 3012
Maribyrnong 3032
Seddon 3011
Tottenham 3012
West Footscray 3012
Yarraville 3013
City of Melton
Aintree
Bonnie Brook
Brookfield 3338
Burnside 3023
Burnside Heights 3023
Caroline Springs 3023
Cobblebank
Deanside
Diggers Rest 3427
Exford 3338
Eynesbury 3338
Fieldstone
Fraser Rise
Grangefields
Harkness
Hillside 3037
Kurunjang 3337
Melton 3337
Melton South 3338
Melton West 3337
Mount Cottrell 3024
Parwan 3340
Plumpton 3335
Ravenhall 3023
Rockbank 3335
Strathtulloh
Taylors Hill
Thornhill Park
Toolern Vale 3337
Truganina 3029
Weir Views
City of Wyndham
Hoppers Crossing 3029
Laverton 3028
Laverton North 3026
Manor Lakes 3024
Point Cook / Sanctury lakes (3030)
Point cook or Pom cook as its is often refered too as there is supposed to be a lot of brits living here. I actually live in point cook Sanctuary lakes and is a really nice area, the only downside is the traffic in a morning especially on point cook road. It takes me 15 mins to cycle to the station, 30 mins on the train and 10 mins walk to the office. To drive it also takes about 1 hour but you have to alter your route every day depending on where the traffic is then you have to pay to park then get from the car park to work.
Tarneit 3029
Truganina 3029
Werribee 3030
Werribee South 3030
Williams Landing 3027
Wyndham Vale 3024
