Moving from Sydney to Melbourne - Help Me Choose a Suburb

dresh on 13/06/2018 - 11:27
Last edited 13/06/2018 - 14:13 by 1 other user

Hi everyone,

Me and my partner (late 20s, early 30s) are thinking of moving from Sydney to Melbourne. Main reason is for work (got a couple of interesting offers in Mel) and for a bit of a change.

We have been living in Sydney for over 4 years now and we love it but wouldn't mind trying Melbourne out, also considering renting is cheaper (not in the position to buy at the moment) and lifestyle looks pretty good.

I would be working in the CBD and I'm just looking around to check which suburb would be good for us. We have been living in Marrickville for the last couple of years and we love it. It has that community feeling we are after, close to the CBD and close to Newtown for the fun stuff. Also lots of good food and going out options.

What would be a similar suburb in Melbourne? I've only been there on a short holiday and stayed in Brunswick, which we loved but I was wondering if I should expand my search to other suburbs as well.

Rent budget is around $600 for a 2 bedder, not too fussed if a house or apartment.

Thanks!

Home & Garden

Comments

  • dcep on 13/06/2018 - 11:33

    cbd shoebox

    no need for car / public transport fares

    plus additional 1-2 hrs extra per day back in your life for cooking

    • dresh on 13/06/2018 - 11:47
      +1

      I will have a car anyway and generally rather not live in the CBD

  • GG57 on 13/06/2018 - 11:50
    +1

    I suggest broadening your search to include suburbs adjoining Brunswick (Coburg, Thornbury, East Brunswick, etc). Not sure how you will go price-wise but those are similar. Fitzroy rent might be a bit too high, but has really good food scene.
    You could also think about south of the CBD: Prahran, Windsor, Balaclava. Those are probably 10-15 minutes from the CBD on the trains.

    • dresh on 13/06/2018 - 12:00

      Thanks for the advice! Any opinion on Yarraville? Heard good things about it

      • bremo on 13/06/2018 - 12:16
        +2

        Yarraville and surrounds are great, they have a bit more of a grungy feeling to it when compared to the eastern suburbs. The western suburbs are known for being more industrial than the east. I have lived in the western suburbs my whole life and wouldn't change it.

        • singlemalt72 on 14/06/2018 - 15:09

          You'll probably find the Coburg/Brunswick/Moonee Ponds/Essendon band of suburbs to be closest to the Marrickville feeling.

          Malvern/Caulfield area is great also (though it's been 25 years since I lived there)

      • sien on 13/06/2018 - 12:56

        Also have a look at Kensington, Flemington and North Melbourne.

        Great places to live as well.

  • dazweeja on 13/06/2018 - 12:39
    +4

    I'll give my 2c having lived in both Sydney and Melbourne. Brunswick St, Fitzroy used to be the closest equivalent to King St, Newtown but now (to me at least) it has a similar vibe to Chapel St, Prahran which is not the Marrickville vibe. I prefer the bars and restaurants on Smith St, Collingwood to Brunswick St now but you'll also find other good scenes in High St, Northcote and Sydney Rd and Lygon Rd, Brunswick.

    East Brunswick is cool because it's sort in the middle of both Northcote and Brunswick. Clifton Hill is interesting too - quite a small strip of shops/bars/restaurants but it's location is great, right between Fitzroy and Northcote. And Abottsford is not spectacular in itself but is next to Collingwood and close to the city.

    And yes, Footscray/Yarraville is an up and coming area of Melbourne. Very multicultural and now has come good pubs and restaurants but you are a bit removed from the other cool parts of Melbourne. My friends that live over there love it but they don't get over my side (Northcote) very often.

    The suburbs I'd look at are Collingwood, Clifton Hill, Fitzroy North, Northcote, East Brunswick, Brunswick and if you don't mind a little bit more of a commute Coburg, Preston and Thornbury. I've lived in Clifton Hill, Brunswick and Northcote. I liked them all. If I had to choose though, my favourite was probably Clifton Hill just for the location. I could walk to Smith St and Brunswick St, or High St the other way, or even the CBD if I had a bit of time, but the tram and train access was great too. But I love it in Northcote too and High St is cool.

    • dresh on 13/06/2018 - 13:06

      Thanks for your post, very informative. I had a feeling Yarraville was a bit like North Sydney in the sense that if you live there, you end up never crossing the bridge to go in other parts of the city. Train station looks good though.

      I had a look at Clifton Hill and looks lovely, not much choice in terms of places at this point though. One of the job is in Southbank and commute looks alright both from East Brunswick and Yarraville (44mins). It looks like Southbank is a bit of a blind spot with public transport unfortunately.

      • GG57 on 13/06/2018 - 13:38
        +2

        Have a look at the maps (if you haven't already) on this link if public transport is a major factor:

        https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/getting-around/maps/

        The first two (train / tram) are probably your most important (very few catch a bus in Melbourne). All the trains / trams go through the CBD and then it is a matter of where on Southbank your work is as to how you get there. There are trams at both ends, and through the middle. If you want door-to-door directions, that same site has a 'journey planner'.

      • Cheaplikethebird on 13/06/2018 - 14:26
        +1

        If you're going to be working in Southbank I would suggest looking at Windsor/Prahran/St Kilda Rd. It's an affluent area but compared to the inner north suburbs which are coveted by uni age people you'll get much better value on a rental property. Super close to the city, great restaurants and you've got the prahran market there as well. There's a few buses that run through those suburbs that go through Southbank also. I'm paying $550 for a large two bedroom apartment on St Kilda Rd which is about a 20 minute walk from Southbank.

    • 87percent on 13/06/2018 - 13:28

      wow… advertising a tumblr account??

      • arlo09 on 13/06/2018 - 14:13

        what's wrong with tumblr? Am I not allowed to use free blogging site to blog?

    • angelkulit025 on 13/06/2018 - 13:41

      i thought tumblr is dead???

      • arlo09 on 13/06/2018 - 14:19

        Dead in terms of what?

  • Tiredman on 13/06/2018 - 13:45
    +1

    I used to live in Docklands and still have an apartment there. Wonderful place, surprisingly quiet and free tram to city. Relaxing walks by the harbor every evening on the way home. Not too much shops though but the city is just a tram ride away.

  • 0FoxGiven on 13/06/2018 - 14:44

    I would suggest the Western suburbs if you plan to buy your own place because the rest of Melbourne is way too overpriced for any added benefits.
    An apartment or townhouse in the Northern suburbs (places that are not more than 30min away from CBD by train) if you want to rent.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/06/2018 - 15:40

    Main reason is for work (got a couple of interesting offers in Mel)

    Well even the crazies around newtown don't want broccoli lattes

  • jjjaar on 13/06/2018 - 18:48

    Fitzroy, West melbourne and Richmond (around swan st or bridge road) are great and you can walk into the cbd for work. Wouldn’t waste money on trams in those areas (unless dark).

    So what you might spend extra in a place, you’ll spend less on commute.

    Otherwise other areas like Brunswick, east brunswick, parkville, Carlton north, north Melbourne, south melbourne are all pretty good areas. Depends what you want, if you want to live near nightlife or a bit away from it. If you want to be near shops and supermarkets or even markets.

    • dresh on 13/06/2018 - 23:36

      Close to nightlife but not right into it. And yes, markets and shop close by but I don't need a mega mall, let's put it that way

  • sharkyoz on 14/06/2018 - 08:08
    +1

    Try Footscray or surrounding areas. Always new immigrant restaurants opening up, and you can get a wide variety of foods from french pastries to asian noodles to indian biryanis. And you're only a bus ride of 15 mins from city centre.

  • lainey13 on 14/06/2018 - 12:39
    +1

    I'm paying about $650 for a lovely modern townhouse in B.East. $600 is plenty for what you want. Nicholson St is great for city commute as it's a separated team line most of the way. Lygon St has more shops and places to eat (Nicholson and most of St George's rd is DEAD). I love it here… will be sad to move when I buy. 10 years ago my rental cost $357000 to build :( $1m now!

  • HeWhoKnows on 14/06/2018 - 15:06

    Williamstown is the best!

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