Suburb Profile: Elwood
Hello again, I'm Greville Pabst and I'm sitting in Ormond Road, Elwood, in front of the Jimmy Jams. A great place to have a wine at night. You can go down to Cellini's for a pizza, or if you want a coffee you can go down to Combi just down the road.
Elwood is a very desirable bayside village. It is located approximately 8 kilometres south of the CBD. It is within walking distance to the beach, shops, cafes, lifestyle.
Lifestyle
Elwood is positioned between Brighton and St Kilda and has a diverse population, from young married couples to young professionals and singles, with a high number of renters.
There are three villages in Elwood. There's the Ormond Road Village, which we're sitting in right now. There's the Barkly Street Village, which is around the roundabout where the Turtle café is. And the third village is south of Acland Street, where you have the St Kilda Botanical Gardens.
Well, it's certainly not beach weather, but this is what Elwood is all about: beach, running tracks, bike paths that run through from Port Melbourne through to Mordialloc Creek.
We've got 50 acres here in Elwood Park that runs through to Head Street, Brighton — football ovals, soccer fields, tennis courts, La Porchetta. You've got the Sailing Club, the Life Saving Club and the Sails on the Bay restaurant. A great location.
Transportation
Elwood doesn't have a railway station, but there's a tram into the city up at Brighton Road and there are bus services. But really, Elwood is about walking to everything: walk to the beach, walk to the cafes, walk into St Kilda, walk into the Botanical Gardens.
It's a fantastic lifestyle location.
Housing in Elwood
Housing styles in Elwood are typically of Federation, Edwardian and Victorian styles, and they will generally be priced between one million dollars up to three million dollars.
Entry price in Elwood for investment-grade flats really starts, for one bedrooms, at $400,000 to $500,000, and your two bedrooms from $550,000 up to $800,000. For some of the Art Deco styles you can pay up to $950,000 — there was a recent sale of a three bedroom Art Deco that sold for $950,000.
I'm standing here in Foam Street, Elwood, and behind me is a great example of a 1930s three bedroom flat that recently sold for $950,000. The location is fantastic: walking distance to the beach here, Marine Parade, and all of the cafes, restaurants and the lifestyle attributes of Ormond Road.
Directly next door we have an example of a one bedroom flat that recently sold for $490,000, a 1950s/60s investment flat.
Streetscape
Elwood is a fantastic place to invest, and there are some great streets that run off Ormond Esplanade straight through to the beach off Marine Parade.
Some of the streets that we advise our clients to buy in: Byrne Avenue, Foam Street, Bendigo Street, Selwyn Street, Pine Avenue. All fantastic streets, which have a great array of investment-class properties — from your Art Deco flats, which are really popular, to your 1950s/1960s and Edwardian and Federation styles.
Some of the great investment streets that run off the Glenhuntly Road Village, such as Ruskin Street and Addison Street. Once again, you can walk into that Glenhuntly Road Village, to the cafes and all of the other lifestyle attributes.
A closer look...
We're in the Glenhuntly Road Village right now, and just to the left here you can see the Turtle Café. We are now turning into Ormond Road, which is the main village.
There's Byrne Avenue. These streets run straight into Marine Parade and the beach. Tiuna Grove here. These are all great streets to buy investment property.
Next one here, Bendigo Street, another great street, runs through to Marine Parade and the beach. And up ahead you can see the Ormond Road village with the cafes, the restaurants and all of those lifestyle attributes.
Selwyn Street, another great street for investment flats. A lot of great examples of Art Deco, 1950s, 1960s, a lot of great period styles.
I'm now going to turn into Beach Avenue. Beach Avenue is one of the best streets here in Elwood, and you can see the wide street, the canopy of trees and some of the styles.
You know, it's all about low density when you're buying flats. Buy them within groups of less than twenty. The land value that underpins these properties is very high.
On the right here we have Beach Court, another example of fantastic Art Deco investment flats. We've bought some in here over the years and they've been great performers for our clients.
Investment tips
Whilst offering some fantastic investment opportunities, Elwood is not without risk, or compromises as I like to call them.
One of the things that you need to be careful of in Elwood is being too close to Brighton Road, and the traffic noise and pollution that's associated with that location.
The second thing that we need to be careful about in Elwood is the subsidence and cracking, and that can be a real problem. Of course, Elwood is built on sand, and sand and water don't mix, so you really don't want to be too close to the canals.
We're driving now down Goldsmith Street in Elwood. We've got the Elwood College here to the right. It looks a fantastic street, but you'd need to be careful, because there are some compromises in this area due to the proximity of the Elwood canal.
When investing in property, don't risk a guess. Seek professional advice.
