Melbourne’s most liveable suburbs: Top 40 revealed
Middle and outer suburbs are surging up the city’s most liveable rankings as more people work from home, services improve and lifestyles change, with one joining blue-chip ‘burbs in the top three.
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Melbourne’s middle and outer suburbs are leapfrogging inner-city postcodes as the best places in the city to live.
The top 40 most liveable suburbs out of 295 across the city - revealed in new research from PwC - shows more than half a dozen suburbs among the city’s best are at least 20km from the CBD.
More people being able to work from home after the pandemic means living close to the city will no longer be so valuable, according to the CityPulse report.
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Hawthorn East received the only perfect score, pipping Hawthorn, which received a 9.8 out of 10.
Richmond rounded out the top three with Cranbourne East, which rose 19 places in the rankings. Both suburbs scored a 9.7.
Surges in the rankings were recorded for Point Cook, divided into east and south parts of the suburb which both rose over 100 places to make the top 20.
Combinations of Warrandyte-Wonga Park and Beaconsfield-Officer both made huge gains to score 8.3 in liveability.
Trendy spots Prahran and Windsor fell 14 places with a score of 8.4, while Brunswick had the most significant fall in the top 40 suburbs, dropping 23 places to a score of 7.9.
The suburbs that saw the biggest increase in liveablity among the most desirable places to live include:
- Cranbourne East, up 19 ranking spots to 4
- Point Cook (East), up 109 spots to 9
- Mitcham, up 22 to 12
- Point Cook (South), up 169 to 18
- Eltham, up 39 to 19
- Nunawading, up 16 to 21
- Warrandyte & Wonga Park, up 45 to 22
PwC Melbourne managing partner Peter Konidaris told the Sunday Herald Sun the coronavirus crisis would likely trigger a long-term shift in people working from home, scrapping commutes for outer suburb residents.
“People who have traditionally lived in the middle and outer ring benefited from more space and affordable living, but they compromised with gruelling commute times for work,” Mr Konidaris said.
“Now people get the benefit of having access to the work while staying in their local communities.”
Housing affordability, crime rates and access to schools, aged-care homes and hospitals were used to assess a suburb’s liveability.
Savings on commute times for typically white-collar employees working from home were also included.
Mr Konidaris said top restaurants and art centres would flourish in outer areas as people spent more time in their suburb.
“Traditionally, the closer you lived to the CBD, the higher your suburb’s liveability was,’’ he said.
“But technology has levelled the playing field.
“It gives people a greater choice about where to live and what lifestyle works for them.”
Property Mavens chief executive Miriam Sandkuhler said big suburban shopping centres meant it was no longer necessary to travel into the city for shopping, dining or entertainment.
“People who are living in that 20km-plus circumference and further out don’t have to come into the city anymore from a lifestyle point of view,” the buyer’s advocate said.
“The impetus that always drove people to live closer to the CBD is now starting to diminish.
“There are first-home buyers in particular who are reconsidering their desire to live so close to the city.”
Noel Jones Ringwood and Croydon director Michael Muncey said walking trails, sports facilities and improved schooling made outer eastern suburbs such as Mitcham a more attractive destination for buyers.
Carnegie was ranked the top suburb within 10-20km of the CBD.
It ranked ahead of blue-chip areas like Malvern East and Camberwell.
First-home buyer Michelle Hoy, who with fiancee Ollie Huse bought a Carnegie unit during the pandemic, said the suburb wasn’t their first choice but was far more affordable than the inner city.
“It is well connected with public transport, has lots of great restaurants and cafes, and is full of parks,” Ms Hoy said.
“We also think that the suburb hasn’t boomed yet, like Ripponlea or Abbotsford have, so hopefully when we sell we can make a bit of a profit.”
Data from a range of sources was used in PwC Australia’s CityPulse analysis to measure suburbs across the areas of work, live and play.
– with Jayitri Smiles
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