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Suburbs and crime rate in melbourne?

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I'm looking at different suburbs in Melbourne to move to and I'm not sure what areas are the areas to avoid, and what are the expensive ones, where the highest crime is. I'm a single woman in her 20s and I don't want to feel uncomfortable where I live. I'm more looking around North melbourne, South, and South east.

Travel Tips

There's not much to worry about really, Melbourne is a relatively safe city by world standards. We have the lowest per capita crime rate of any Australian capital city.

I live in the outer eastern suburbs, and it is really safe here. But i think a young single person like yourself should be in the more inner suburbs.

The most dangerous areas are closer to the city. The areas in the suburbs out to the east are very safe and friendly, but slightly more expensive. Try to avoid Collingwood, Footscray, and most of the western suburbs. St Kilda is a nice place, friendly people, great restaurants, and beaches. The house prices can be quite hefty compared to other places because of the nice location though.

Others
inner city suburbs like nth melb,richmond,collingwood,stki... and the cbd are probably where the mojority of crime is committed but saying that melbourne is a very safe city overall.

my sister in law just moved from the u.k to pt melb and loves it,she is in a shared house and finds it very affordable,also albert park and sth melb are great suburbs for youhg people
G'day,

I guess it also comes down to how much can you afford? Are you going to rent or buy?

My personal suggestion: if you are young, free, single and work near the city area, then the apartments in Docklands, Southbank or CBD are actually worth to look at. You don't wanna be tied up by houseworks and gardenworks over the weekend b'cos when you are living in the outer suburbs, that's what you're having, a house with front garden and backyard.

The earlier answerers are quite spot on in pointing out the 'trouble' areas, although I'm not quite agree that you should avoid the western suburbs altogether. Maybe the areas like Sunshine or Footscray are worth to avoid, but some are actually one of the best growing suburbs in Melbourne, and it is quite affordable, with only abt 20min driving distance from the CBD. Traditionally, Melbournians are looking around the East, South and Southeast side, so the price of the properties on those sides are pretty expensive. The inner suburbs are old houses, pretty dense and small, with expensive prices due to their closeness to the CBD.

I used to live in Collingwood and Clifton Hill (the inner suburbs) with my parents. When I got married in 2000 and looking for our own place. The obvious path will be to look around the area that I have been lived in. However after searching for awhile we realised that with our budget of about $300K, we could only find a run-down house that we need to renovate extensively. We were looking further and further towards East and South East area, until we reach Rowville and felt that it becomes ridiculously too far, not to mention the peak-hour traffic report that you usually hear from the radio on the M1.

We finally settle in Point Cook, west of Melbourne. It is about 20min from the city via Westgate Freeway with plenty of new estates being opened, affordable price, close to the sea and infrastructure that aimed for young families. Just try and have a look yourself if you are interested to find out.

I am enclosing 2 websites that lists available property around Melbourne. The 3rd website is one of the main real estate in Point Cook area, if you are interested to see around the area. The last link is the article from The Age, one of the main newspaper in Melbourne in regards to criminal rate around Melbourne suburbs.

Hope this helps. Good luck :)
www.domain.com.au
www.realestate.com.au
www.pointcookrealestate.com.au
http://www.150.theage.com.au/view_bestof...
I have attached a weblink relating to the crime areas in Melbourne - http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp...
Hope that helps with the first part of your question.
Second part - where to live, it all depends on if you have a car or if you are taking public transport. I would recommend the south/south east are pretty good areas to live. Chadstone and that area is pretty good - anywhere from Chadstone & Burwood into the city is a great area in the South/East.
I prefer South/East & South over Northern Suburbs unless you are going to a uni in the Northern suburbs. Generally speaking the Northern suburbs are quite multiculture and the crime rates tend to be a bit higher there.
If you are visiting Melbourne before moving here i would suggest having a look at the suburbs yourself.
Although I think that you would love Chadstone as there is a huge shopping centre there - plus it's only about 15 minutes out from the city via the Tollway - plus - it's not too far from the beaches (1/2 hour for a nice beach, closer for a not so nice beach!!!)