Thirty one percent of the top 100 family friend suburbs in Australia are in Melbourne, according to a new national survey by RP Data for mortgage broker Aussie Home Loans.
Three Victorian suburbs (Taylors Lakes, Diamond Creek and Cockatoo) are in the top 10 family friendly metropolitan suburbs, while four (Wallan, Bacchus Marsh, Warragul, Leongatha) are in the top 10 regional suburbs.
Aside from Melbourne suburbs, the breakdown of the “top 100 suburbs for family living” was made up by Brisbane with 22%, Sydney with 21%, Adelaide with 12%, Hobart with 9%, Perth with 4%, and Darwin with just 1%.
Aussie Home Loans CEO Ian Corfield said that, while many families want to live near the city or the beach, suburbs located in the middle of outer rings of the cities are best suited to them.
The survey showed that the top five factors families look for in a new home are the number of bedrooms, the overall size of the block of land, whether there is a garage or off street parking, the size of the backyard and affordability.
Corfield said suburbs located outside of cities tended to offer more affordable housing options located on larger blocks, which allowed for more bedrooms and space for growing families.
For this reason, the Hobart suburb of Kingston ranked number 1 overall. It provides the best combination of affordable home prices ($350,000 median price); average block sizes (828sq metres) and average bedroom number (3.3 per house), plus proximity to relevant amenities.
Families’ priorities have changed, with parents now prepared to travel longer distances to work and schools, Corfield said.
“The dark side of the analysis suggests that many inner-city areas of Australia’s capitals are simply too expensive to live in for young families and government need to address this growing problem.”
Adelaide was found to be Australia’s most affordable mainland capital city, with 15 of its top 20 suburbs having a median price of under $400,000.
Canberra was the biggest loser in the survey – with none of its suburbs making the Top 100 – while Darwin and Perth also did badly.
The top 10 metropolitan suburbs for family living are:
- Kingston (TAS)
- Morayfield (QLD)
- Lauderdale (TAS)
- Byford (WA)
- Taylors Lakes (VIC)
- Aber Foyle Park (SA)
- The Gap (QLD)
- Diamond Creek (VIC)
- Belair (SA)
- Cockatoo (VIC)
- Orange (NSW)
- Wallan (VIC)
- Bacchus Marsh (VIC)
- Dubbo (NSW)
- Warragul (VIC)
- Muswellbrook (NSW)
- Roma (QLD)
- Goulburn (NSW)
- Scone (NSW)
- Leongatha (VIC)
