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Can You Afford to Live in Sydney?
This post actually took me quite a number of hours because I had to do a lot of researching and I want to make note here, I’m not a real estate expert, and this post is written as someone searching for affordable properties in this wonderful city of ours.
PARRAMATTA
I’m an inner city girl, and about 35 years ago I actually lived in this area. How times have changed. Parramatta is now a thriving city in its own right, and business is booming in the area. Median house price to buy is $1,055,000, for a unit $582,000 and rental $490 a week.
Parramatta is a hub of big business, local business, restaurants, cafes and shopping. Local attractions include:
Lake Parramatta Reserve with 73 hectares of bushland and parkland located within two kilometres of the Parramatta central business district.
Parramatta Park which is World Heritage Listed and is a must see for visitors to Sydney. The early settlers were first successful in growing sufficient food to feed themselves in this area.
Hambledon Cottage House Museum is home to Parramatta and District Historical Society, founded in 1913. There’s plenty of Sydney history around Parramatta.
PENRITH
Video above of my experience at iflydownunder.
Penrith is good hour or more drive from the Sydney CBD and unfortunately in peak hour traffic a lot longer. Penrith is situated at the foot of the stunning Blue Mountains. The median house price to buy is $650,000, $390,000 for a unit and to rent $420.
With a large shopping centre, the Penrith Leagues Club, Indoor flying centre, Regatta centre and near the Blue Mountains and Windsor areas; Penrith is ideally suited for families.
I previously lived in the Blue Mountains for many years, and Penrith was the place to travel for shopping. I have also experienced the iflydownunder indoor flying centre, which was something I will never forget.
CAMPBELLTOWN
Photo: Wikipedia
Campbelltown is approximately 55 km South West of Sydney. The median house price is $575,000, $411,000 for a unit and a rental around $400 for a house.
The area has a history of the region dating over 40,000 years ago and is contained in the continuing culture of the Tharawal people. The surrounding land still contains rock engravings, cave paintings and axe grinding grooves.
Some of the local attractions:
Opened in 1984, Koshigaya Park is one of Campbelltown's most popular parkland areas. The park was opened in celebration of Campbelltown's sister city relationship with Koshigaya, Japan.
Razorback Ridge Wines is located in the picturesque Macarthur region south of Sydney. It is an hour's drive from Sydney, 40 minutes from Wollongong and minutes from Camden.
The Southern Highlands is about 60km from Ambarvale and there you will find plenty of craft shops, restaurants, cafes, bushwalks and history.
Campbelltown has its very own go-karting centre; Fastlane Karting for those who love a bit an adrenalin rush.
The Georges River Nature Reserve in Campbelltown features scenic beauty, European heritage sites and is rich in Indigenous history. It’s home to much biodiversity, and endangered species plus has a healthy Koala colony.
POTTS POINT
Photo: Sydney Chic Instagram
This where I Iive. The median unit price is $600,000 with rentals being $500 as week. Houses are off the scale for this post as I couldn’t find anything under $1m. Of course units can peak way over the $1,000,000 in this area.
I personally love living in Potts Point because of the convenience to the city and surrounding areas of Darlinghurst, Surry Hills and the Eastern Suburbs. Being a blogger, I’m always out somewhere doing a review or at an event so this area is fantastic for hopping on a train, bus or catching an Uber or taxi to where I need to go.
Of course there is the downside with the seedy side of Kings Cross. This seems to be rapidly changing now because of the lock out laws and properties around this area expected to take off.
I think it’s a great area for couples and singles to live here. The area is vibrant with nightlife, café’s, restaurants, close to the Botanical Gardens, a walk to the CBD and Woolloomooloo and only two stops on the train to Bondi Junction. You have to take the good with the bad and I do find it very noisy living here.
HOMEBUSH
Photo: SydneyChic Instagram
By the time I decided on this last suburb I had been researching for hours and getting quite alarmed at how expensive this city really is. I settled on Homebush because it’s near Sydney Olympic Park. Even for a family living in a unit, there’s an abundance of things to do in this part of Sydney. The median unit price is $670,000, rentals $530 and if you want a house you are looking at $1,749,878.
Sydney Olympic Park offers, picturesque parkland with superb facilities that include free BBQs, picnic shelters and shade areas, walking trails, cycle paths, playgrounds and playful fountains for the kids to have fun in.
The park is home for hundreds of species of plants, birds, frogs, bats, reptiles and fish. Amongst the protected wetlands and woodlands you can bird watch, spot endangered frogs such as the endangered Green and Golden Bell frog, or just soak in the calmness under the trees. I’m a lover of frogs, I miss not having them around anymore.
The area is also home to a DFO shopping Centre for plenty of bargains.
Happy house hunting!
Source: for all prices from Your Property Investment Mag
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