A string of suburbs further than 10 kilometres away from Melbourne’s CBD have a median house price of $2 million or more and are drawing home buyers who could afford to live closer to the city centre.
Ari Karanicolas lives in one of those suburbs, but he says it’s worth the commute and the price tag.
Ari Karanicolas lives in Black Rock and is selling a property in Hampton that he developed. Photo: Supplied
Karanicolas and his family live in Black Rock, about 17km south of the CBD, where the median house price is $2,225,000.
He said while it may not be close to the city, the Bayside suburbs offer an unbeatable lifestyle.
“It’s the perfect combination of nature and that cosmopolitan lifestyle, and we’ve got a huge plus of having the bay at our doorstep,” Karanicolas told The Age.
“Even though (the price of) buying here may be higher than other suburbs, I feel as though the investment is very much worth it.”
Black Rock’s nearby suburbs of Hampton and Brighton East have median house prices of $2,275,000 and $2.25 million respectively.
And Sandringham and Beaumaris have median prices of $1,952,500 and $2 million respectively, Domain data shows.
Karanicolas, who often travels to the city for work meetings, said commuting from Bayside was “quite reasonable”, praising the bay views on Beach Road and accessible train lines.
The builder and father of two, who is selling a property he developed in Hampton with a price guide of $3 million to $3.3 million, said buyers were willing to pay more for the Bayside experience
Karanicolas added that beachside suburbs like Black Rock, Hampton and Sandringham were the “ultimate place to raise a family”, with schooling options, sporting clubs, cafes and restaurants.
His agent, senior auctioneer at Buxton Real Estate Sandringham Peter Hickey said buyers were willing to pay for the “Bayside bubble” lifestyle, which includes access to beaches, excellent schools and public transport.
“We’ve got access to pretty much everything anybody else would have in Melbourne, but we also have access to the beach, and we have that smaller population by promoting a very different lifestyle,” Hickey said.
“In Sandringham, Black Rock and Brighton East, it very much has that village feel.”
Hickey said commuting was not a problem for residents.
“While the leafy eastern suburbs and the likes of Toorak may geographically be closer to the CBD, because of their surrounding suburbs in every direction – so cars and the feed in traffic that those suburbs end up getting – that results in the travel time into town being exponentially longer.
“Although it’s a shorter distance, it can take a lot longer to get into town from those suburbs,” he said.