Nestled between Maribyrnong and West Footscray, Maidstone’s median house price of $797,500 is substantially lower than its famous neighbours.
Maribyrnong sits at $1,050,500 and West Footscray at $929,000, and as house prices keep climbing in these pockets, house hunters are moving one suburb over to areas where prices are more affordable.
114 Ballarat Road, Maidstone VIC 3012
Courtney Lettieri of Village Real Estate , who works in Melbourne’s inner-west, says buyers are now catching on to Maidstone, where house prices are up 4.1 per cent over the year, according to Domain data.
“It’s undervalued, so undervalued,” she says. “ I was brought up in the w est; I didn’t even know that Maidstone was a suburb until I was in my more informative teenage years .
“It’s not something that’s talked about at all.”
This may not be the case for long, Lettieri says, due to the aforementioned domino effect pushing many first-home buyers and young families out of West Footscray and Maribyrnong, which, in turn, are attracting buyers unable to afford the highly sought-after inner west suburbs of Yarraville and Seddon, where the median house prices are $1.15 million and $1.06 million, respectively.
16 Eucalyptus Drive, Maidstone VIC 3012
Amanda Basilone of BigginScott Moonee Ponds, who works across Melbourne’s inner-west and north-west, says Maidstone has a mix of long-term residents who know and love the suburb, but increasingly new buyers are calling it home after stumbling upon it almost accidentally in their property search.
“It’s extremely close to the city; i t’s just not a known suburb,” she says.
“ It’s the quiet little suburb that no one really knows about until they’re looking in and around those better-known surrounding suburbs and realise it’s only a few streets away and it’s a lot more affordable.”
The suburb has a mix of property types, from period homes, including weatherboard bungalows and art deco homes, to more developed pockets with townhouses that shot up during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
1D Pullar Street, Maidstone VIC 3012
“Maidstone has a big combination of property styles; in the older parts there are period homes, and then in some of the other parts a lot of townhouses and a lot of apartments,” Basilone says.
“There are some really lovely tree-lined streets where there are still a lot of period homes in certain pockets of Maidstone; they’re the streets bordering West Footscray, which a lot of people like.”
While Maidstone is a stone’s throw away from Maribyrnong, the median house price is $250,000 lower, which Basilone says is because land parcels of older homes in Maribyrnong are often bigger and sell for a lot more.
32A Burns Street, Maidstone VIC 3012
“ Maribyrnong’s often got bigger homes, so that’s probably pushing up the average sale price there – Maidstone doesn’t really have that,” she says.
The suburb does not have a train station, which is another factor contributing to its lower median price.
However, Basilone says the suburb still has excellent bus connectivity and, depending on where you’re located in Maidstone, you can easily commute to West Footscray or Tottenham stations.
Buyers are instead drawn to the local amenities and family-oriented community services, which are drawing in a wave of young families and first-home buyers.
1/27 Spurling Street, Maidstone VIC 3012
“ I feel like it’s becoming more and more of a family environment with a lot more families coming into the area,” Basilone says.
“There are good schools, there are cafes, and a lot of that’s being built up now in the vicinity of Summerhill Road, which starts in Maidstone, then goes into West Footscray and Footscray.
13 Renown Street, Maidstone VIC 3012
“There are a lot of first- home buyers who I’m dealing with in Maidstone. I had a young family who recently bought a four-bedroom townhouse, but they came from Kingsville.
“This is what’s happening. They’re moving out one or two suburbs to Maidstone, but they’re still getting to live in close proximity to the city, and the property is a bit bigger and [cheaper].
“In a time when the the cost of living is so expensive, people are looking out for their pockets.”
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