Suburb Profile: Kensington
We're in Bellair Street, Kensington, approximately 2 kilometres from the CBD. The Macaulay Road Village is a fantastic village where there are lots of cafes and quirky book shops, and right beside me here is Kensington Railway Station, only two stations away from Southern Cross Station into the CBD.
Bellair Street is one of the few streets in Melbourne where I'd recommend buying an investment property that is actually opposite a railway line, and that's because the railway line is below street level, which reduces the noise.
Housing in Kensington
Typical housing stock in Kensington is your typical Victorian brick and block-fronted weatherboard dwellings. These are usually priced between $650,000 to $850,000.
When it comes to investing in Kensington, houses are the typical choice. There are a limited number of investment quality flats in this suburb.
I'm standing in The Ridgeway in Kensington. The property behind me is a Victorian block-fronted weatherboard that recently sold for $766,000.
Streetscape
I'm standing here in McCracken Street in Kensington, where there are some great examples of Victorian architecture — from your single-fronted brick Victorians to your double-fronted block weatherboards.
Kensington has some fantastic streets: McCracken Street, McConnell, Bangalore, The Ridgeway.
A closer look...
Now we're driving along Bellair Street in Kensington, and you can see the type of architecture on my right — the beautiful little Victorian cottages and some double storey ones as well.
As we turn into Wolseley Parade, which is one of the best streets in Kensington, you really only want to buy halfway up this street. You can actually see, as you go up the hill, that you could almost be in Hawthorn: nice wide street, beautiful examples of Victorian architecture and a lovely canopy of elm trees. However, as we get to the top of the hill, you can see in the foreground housing commission flats.
So there are compromises in Kensington, and we recommend that we really wouldn't want to buy at this end of Wolseley Parade, but certainly the Bellair Street end would be worth looking at.
Avoiding compromise
Behind me are the former Newmarket saleyards, which is now known as Kensington Banks, an infill residential development.
There are plenty of compromises in Kensington, which means you must be really careful. I like to keep away from the high-density type of development. My investment tip is to look for scarcity. What I mean by 'scarcity' are those Victorian, period type dwellings that are within walking distance to that Macaulay Road Village.
Investment tips
When investing in property, remember that not all properties perform the same. Location is not just about the suburb, it's about the street within the suburb — and if you're buying a flat, it's that flat's position or location within the block.
When buying investment property, if you have any doubts, always seek independent advice.
