Where you can buy a house for less than $1m within 10km of Melbourne’s CBD

Kirsty Garlick and Nick Cowling love their suburb. There are plenty of cafes and green spaces, it’s just nine kilometres from the city, and the median house price is less than $1 million.

Sunshine is among a string of relatively affordable suburbs within 10 kilometres of the CBD where you can buy a house with at least two bedrooms and a backyard for less than seven figures.

The most affordable of these suburbs is Glenroy, where the median house price is $674,568, Domain data shows. Braybrook and Sunshine North come in second and third, with median house prices of $684,000 and $715,500 respectively.

Garlick, a public servant, and Cowling, a copywriter, recently sold their Sunshine townhouse and are planning to purchase a larger home in the area.

“We really love Sunshine, so we’re definitely open to [buying there], and to be honest, depending on how the market goes, that’s probably within our price bracket,” Garlick said.

The median house price in Sunshine – which comes in at number 10 on Domain’s list – is $807,500.

Kirsty Garlick and Nick Cowling, pictured with their son Fox, have sold their townhouse in Sunshine and are hoping to buy a larger home for under $1m in the inner west.Credit: Simon Schluter

Garlick, 39, and Cowling, 36, both grew up in the inner west and didn’t want to move too far away when buying their first home.

Garlick said Sunshine offered the same great amenities as nearby suburbs like Yarraville and Footscray without the price tag.

“There’s lots of green spaces, it’s super accessible, there’s some really good cafes, and it’s affordable,” Garlick said.

“Lots of young families have just started moving in … they still want to have that inner-city lifestyle and … be close to what they know, but they can’t afford [more expensive areas], and Sunshine is just absolutely perfect for that, and I think it’s really overlooked.”

Domain head of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said houses were more affordable in high-density areas where block sizes were smaller, offering more choice at a lower price.

“What you’ve got is that efficient use of land coming in medium-density housing through townhouses,” Powell said.

“Land comes at a premium. The closer you get to a city centre, that’s where we see efficient use of land in the form of units and apartments, and that higher density allows the ability to purchase closer to a CBD at a lower price point.”

Garlick said while they would have been able to purchase a larger property in the outer suburbs for a similar price, it was important for them to be close to the CBD, family and local amenities.

Home buyers can find houses for less than $1 million in Sunshine and Braybrook, while still being close to the city. Credit: Penny Stephens

“We really weighed it up with our lifestyle,” Garlick said. “That’s why we ended up with the two-bedroom townhouse rather than a four-bedroom house further out, and I’m really glad that we made that decision.”

Their real estate agent Marcus Fregonese, director at Ray White Sunshine, said he was seeing buyers priced out of the inner north and inner west turn to suburbs like Sunshine and Braybrook, where they can find a two-bedroom or three-bedroom home for less than $1 million.

“In Sunshine, we’re seeing young first home owners coming into the marketplace, and we’re also seeing second-time buyers who are currently living in areas like Northcote, Collingwood, Footscray and Yarraville,” he said.

“They’re coming out to Sunshine for affordability reasons – you get more bang for your buck.”

Fregonese said areas like Sunshine and West Footscray offered cafe culture, nightlife, green spaces and great transport links to the city, as well as period-style homes with multiple bedrooms and outdoor space, at a much lower price than in more popular inner-city suburbs.

Demographer Mark McCrindle said buyer interest in inner-city suburbs has had a resurgence since the pandemic, with some people willing to trade an extra bedroom for lifestyle and a short commute.

“Post-pandemic, people were happy to look at the regions, look to the outer suburbs,” McCrindle said. “They thought they might need the extra space for a work-from-home office. They’re recognising that if they’re at home they can get by without a dedicated room. All of those shifts are bringing people closer to the CBD.”

With heightened interest rates and cost-of-living pressures, McCrindle added that buying smaller homes or apartments in central areas was attractive to buyers driven by affordability.

“What drives affordability is supply and particularly densified living. When affordability is the focus, these areas close to the city do give you some good options.”

With Kristy Johnson