Top Melbourne Suburbs to Invest, For Budgets of Less Than $500,000

Flemington Post OfficeMELBOURNE’s once booming real-estate market has finally decelerated – and for the first time in a long time, buyers are calling the shots.

If you have a secure job, low debt and a will to own real estate – banks, developers and the Government want to talk.

But a word of advice: if you do take the plunge, spend what you can afford, rather than the maximum amount you can borrow.

Saturday Domain talks to some experts on which suburbs you should look at, no matter what your budget:

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Council Adjusts to Being Landlord Snaring APT as Tenant

FIVE months after paying ING a speculated $22 million for the prominent Cheltenham office it was renting (pictured), the City of Kingston council has snared one of Australia’s biggest tour providers as a tenant.

Australian Pacific Touring – more commonly known as APT – has quit its 36-year headquarters at Hampton Street, Hampton, and will move to the 1230 Nepean Highway office known for years as the Fujitsu building.

APT, which established locally in 1920, will lease 3200 square metres of B-grade offices space, paying a speculated $200 per square metre, per annum in rent.

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Forza Capital Pays $14 Million for Cheltenham Office, Melbourne

ONE of Melbourne’s bigger mid-suburban office sales this year has quietly taken place in Cheltenham.

Property investment group Forza Capital has paid private developer Glenuc $14 million for 294 Bay Road, which includes a new 4,772 office building, and 4900 square metre adjoining development site.

The office is leased to service provider iSelect and will initially accommodate 320 of its employees. iSelect has an option to occupy a 10,000 square metre office earmarked for the vacant block.

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Cheltenham Office Sells For $15 Million

ONE of Cheltenham’s biggest office buildings, in a convenient location next door to the massive Westfield Southland shopping centre, has sold for about $15 million to a private investor.

Sydney-based syndicate GDI has offloaded the 4 – 10 Jamieson Street office it purchased for $13.5 million about three years ago.

The 5792 square metre building was one of several assets offloaded in 2007 by Henkell Brothers Investment Management, at what is now considered the peak of that property cycle.

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R.Corporation Buys Cheltenham Site For Speculated $20 Million

BOUTIQUE builder R.Corporation has purchased its first major development site since the 2008 economic downturn, and is said to be planning a $150 million-plus mixed use village which would be amongst the biggest projects in the developer’s portfolio.

The South Yarra based developer, headed by Andrew Rettig, is understood to be paying about $20 million, sources estimate, for a vacant four hectare site at 98 – 116 Cavanagh Street in Cheltenham, 20 kilometres south east of town.

R.Corporation is reputedly planning to replace the site with a mix of shops, offices and apartments.

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