Australian suburb profiles – where to go to get the low down

February 16, 2011 No comments

Where?

Back in September, Mum talked about the Top ten online tools for expats and listed web tools for staying in touch and other useful stuff like Moonpig (customised online greeting cards), and LinkedIn (professional social networking site).

Since then Mum has realised that one of the most common reasons for people who are relocating to Australia, to turn to the web, is when they’re trying to decide where to live. Most “Australia” forums on the Internet hold posts from people asking; which are the best suburbs from families in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and so on? The hottest debate of all is the decision between moving to Sydney or Melbourne.

Getting the “where should we live?” decision right is one of the primary factors in making your family relocation a success. One of the most popular articles at Mum’s gone 2 Aus is Where to live in Australia: the best Sydney suburbs for families.

In an attempt to help mums (and dads) even further with their relocation planning, Mum has put together a list of resources (mostly online) for learning about Australian regions, cities, towns, and suburbs. Please add your own top tips or links to the comments below, thank you.

Online tools

Domain suburb profiles – Domain.com.au is one of Australia’s most popular real estate websites. Use their suburb profiles tool to display a history of suburb property sales and demographics such as population age, job type and religion.
Myboot.com.au wraps up suburb profiles with classified and business advertising. When displaying your chosen suburb, myboot provides demographic information as well as a description of the suburb and its history, a list of surrounding suburbs, and photographs. Myboot also has a suburb distance calculator so you can review the distance and route between suburbs.
RP Data are the Number 1 provider of property information to the Real Estate Industry in Australia; from their website you can view a free suburb profile report that provides a general understanding of the suburb or postcode area. It includes a description of the suburb and the demographic information on the suburb such as household structures and average incomes.

Online articles

Kidspot provides the most comprehensive directory for parents in Australia; they’ve published an article by Lana Hallowes listing the Best Family Friendly Suburbs in Australia.
In January 2010, NineMSN Financial News produced a list of Australia’s ten best suburbs.

Useful terms

As you research prospective suburbs to call home, there are some Aussie terms you’ll come across;

LGA (Local Government Authority) – Once you know which LGA the suburbs you’re researching are in, find their website and see what information they provide about the suburb.
CBD (Central Business District) – Most cities in Australia have a CBD, where office jobs are likely to be based. Check out how far your chosen suburb is from the CBD.
Unit – The term used in Australia for an apartment.

In print

There are also plenty of offline resources that provide invaluable information about Australian suburbs. Besides the usual guide books such as Rough Guide, Time Out and Eyewitness Travel, here’s a list of recommended reading;

When we moved to Sydney, we did all of our research online and the suburb we selected was a fantastic starting point. House prices and school places pushed us to a neighbouring suburb that has been the perfect place to live out our Australian dream. Mum hopes these resources help you find your dream suburb down under, or perhaps, if you’re already here, it will help you move on from the wrong choice, either way happy planning!