Future Victoria: Best suburbs to live in Melbourne for families, couples, retirees, students
Whether you are a family, single, retiree or student, experts have figured out the best suburbs to call home. So what are the keys to happiness in your neighbourhood, and does yours make the list?
Future Victoria
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Safety, access to leisure facilities and a sense of belonging are key reasons Victorians love where they live.
But people want more money invested in hospitals, emergency services and public transport.
Inner Melbourne residents rank as the state’s happiest with their area ahead of regional Victorians. Those in Melbourne’s outer west are the least satisfied.
New research from consultancy firm PwC Australia revealed community safety, leisure facilities, inclusiveness and health and wellbeing services were the main reasons Victorians were happy with where they lived.
“Community safety is clearly the most important factor in determining how much people love where they live,” PwC partner John Studley said.
“We also found the longer people live in an area the more they love it. Having a chance to build a sense of community is important to people.
“People want to feel they’re connected to something.”
More than 4600 people across metropolitan and regional Victoria were surveyed as part of the study, between April and June this year.
Statewide 71 per cent of people loved where they live, rating their area between 8-10 out of 10. The figure was the same in regional areas.
Inner Melbourne scored 79 per cent, the outer east 68 per cent, outer north 65 per cent and outer west just 58 per cent.
“Victoria has probably had a very CBD-centric history in terms of development and we’re seeing that in the high scores of inner Melbourne,’’ Mr Studley said.
“That drops off as you move further out.”
A long wishlist of upgrades Victorians wanted to improve their areas was identified.
Money for hospitals and medical centres, emergency services, more frequent and better public transport and safety infrastructure topped the list, while carparking, roads, subsidies for essential services and affordable housing were also a priority.
Mr Studley said the findings could help inform governments at all levels about future funding decisions.
“A lot of planning is done based on statistics and so on, but it’s not always fully informed by the voices of the citizens,” he said.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to tailor decisions around development that are aligned with what our citizens are telling us.”
Separate PwC analyses examining Melbourne’s top suburbs to live, work and play showed inner suburbs ranked the highest, while newer areas tended to lag behind.
The findings were based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data of which areas had the greatest concentration of services such as schools, hospitals and public transport.
Richmond emerged as Melbourne’s top suburb for living, work and play ahead of Hawthorn East, Hawthorn, Moonee Ponds, and Northcote.
Melbourne’s inner east starred for liveability across demographic ranges spanning singles, students, retirees and families.
PwC chief economist Jeremy Thorpe said suburbs at the top of the list tended to be “transport-dense”.
“That’s areas where people could walk somewhere, they could catch a train, or almost as a last resort they could drive,” Mr Thorpe said.
Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo were also examined. The Geelong suburb of Newtown scored overall bragging rights ahead of Ballarat, Geelong West, Hamlyn Heights and Strathfieldsaye in Bendigo.
Married couple Sarah Kenny and Andy Gibson, who live in Carlton North with dog Lulu, said they enjoyed the suburb because it was close to the city but still surrounded by parks and trees.
At Baringhup in central Victoria, Belinda and Adam Marshall and their four children are happy with the decision to make a tree change from Melbourne in January.
Mrs Marshall said they chose the small town for its slower lifestyle and peace and quiet with finding a local doctor one of the few hurdles.
“We like the space for children to run around, and the sense of community.”
BEST MELBOURNE SUBURBS TO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY
PwC experts used data and research findings to determine the best suburbs in Melbourne to live, work and play.
When it came to top suburbs to live in, they separated suburbs into different household types — students, retirees, couples with kids and no kids.
They looked at factors including housing affordability, crime rates and accessibility to schools and universities, childcare centres, aged care homes, hospitals and healthcare centres.
To determine best places to work, they looked at factors including economic performance, job growth, unemployment rate and access to workplaces.
For best areas to “play”, they looked at factors including availability of fitness centres, entertainment venues, cultural attractions, beaches, national parks and local parks, gardens and ovals.
BEST PLACES FOR FAMILIES TO LIVE
Hawthorn East
Eltham
Hawthorn
Surrey Hills
Canterbury
Templestowe Lower
Bulleen
Glen Iris
Camberwell
Doncaster
Kew
BEST PLACES FOR PEOPLE WITH NO KIDS TO LIVE
Hawthorn East
Hawthorn
Glen Iris
Surrey Hills
Canterbury
Camberwell
Eltham
Bulleen
Templestowe Lower
Kew
Blackburn
BEST PLACES FOR RETIREES TO LIVE
Hawthorn East
Surrey Hills
Canterbury
Bulleen
Templestowe Lower
Camberwell
Ashburton
South Yarra
Surrey Hills
Mont Albert
Glen Iris
Prahran
Windsor
BEST PLACES FOR STUDENTS TO LIVE
Hawthorn
Hawthorn East
Doncaster
Camberwell
Glen Iris
Kew
Surrey Hills
Canterbury
Prahran
Windsor
Blackburn
Eltham
BEST PLACES TO WORK
Docklands
Melbourne
Southbank
East Melbourne
South Yarra
Truganina
Albert Park
Tarneit
Richmond
Hawthorn
BEST PLACES TO PLAY
Melbourne
St Kilda
East Melbourne
Southbank
Albert Park
Prahran
Windsor
Richmond
Malvern
Glen Iris
South Yarra
Hawthorn
MORE FUTURE VICTORIA NEWS:
RADICAL ‘RING OF CITIES’ PLAN TO EASE MELBOURNE POPULATION CRUSH
WHERE VICTORIANS FEEL MOST AND LEAST SAFE
RUSSEL HOWCROFT: LET’S SHOW THE WORLD HOW GOOD WE ARE
WHY ESCAPING CITY RATE RACE IS A RARE REALITY
A big majority of regional Victorians “love” where they live, but the number of Melburnians who expect to move to country areas is relatively small.
While new investment in business and innovation precincts is occurring, the appeal of regional cities is stymied by a focus on the shortcomings of public transport, education and jobs.
The new PwC Australia research found 71 per cent of Victorians don’t expect to move over the next five years.
Of those people likely to move, about half, or 14 per cent of Victorians, expect to move within 50km of their current home.
About 3.4 per cent of Victorians expect to move from metro to regional, 2.5 per cent interstate, 2 per cent to abroad and 1.1 per cent from the country to the city.
A report compiled by PwC experts and local and state government officials said places like Bendigo showed high liveability scores, with 76 per cent of respondents rating their “love” for the area at eight out of 10 or higher.
“That’s because, although transport and work opportunities are perceived to be poorer than in either inner or outer Melbourne, Bendigo’s excellent sense of safety and inclusiveness, plus the quality and accessibility of its health and leisure facilities, make it a place where residents love to live,” the report said.
Gisborne resident John Loebmann commutes by train to Melbourne for work, admitting it’s “not extremely economical”.
“The benefits of generally getting a seat and being able to do work on the train without the stress of driving, I find outweighs the costs,” he said.
“I also benefit from great flexible working arrangements, which allows me to work from what I affectionately call ‘the regional office’.”
Mr Loebmann said Gisborne, 55km from Melbourne, was a lovely country town with friendly people, and had great options for families.
“As with any growing community, there are opportunities to improve the infrastructure and provide more options for teenagers.”
PwC chairman of markets Ian Carson said new technology was making it easier to work remotely from the office.
“Employers are now being much more flexible with work arrangements where people can work from home increasingly,” he said.
“Surprisingly, the survey found people are saying they’re happy with the technology infrastructure in the regions.”
The report said better transport links between Victoria’s major centres would boost economic growth and community outcomes.
“But while a critical enabler of connected places, faster rail alone cannot fully realise these benefits for regional communities without quality local services and amenities,” it said.
PwC analytic intelligence partner Alastair Pearson said planners needed to go beyond narrow criteria like economic and environmental indicators when designing neighbourhoods.
“Traditional economic or financial indicators, like return on investment, often ignore the broader effects of a project, on all things that matter to people, like how they spend their leisure time and how far away they are from their workplace,” he said.