SuburbWatch

I bought into Favel Way Balga last year, and love it!
Location: Balga is located mid-way between two major town centers in Perth – Perth CDB and Joondalup (approx. 12km to CDB, 12km to Joondalup), yet well below market average price. On normal days, it takes me 10 minutes to drive to Perth CDB, 10 minutes to Joondalup, 10 minutes to the beach, 15 minutes to vineyards and approx. 3 minutes to Mirrabooka Shopping centre.
Transport: It’s 2 minutes walk to Muswell street bus stop. It takes me to Warwick station in less than 5 minutes. Warwick station is one of the main stations with bus interchange, all trains stops there. Hewett Bus stop is 1 minute away from my house, which can take me straight to the Perth CDB.
Parks and recreation centre: plenty of parks around at walkabout distance. Balga Recreation Centre is 2 minutes drive away (or you can take a bus at Hewett street). The Balga Recreation Centre an award winning centre and it is one of the best in Perth. It has in-door pool or adult, kids, and hydro pool for special needs. It also has gym, basketball court, netball court and etc.
The New North Project: Balga was built as a State Housing suburb back in 1970s. But it has all changed now – State Housing is moving out of Balga. The government started the New North Project years ago to remove the stigma and rejuvenate the suburb. Today, if you simply drive past Balga, you will see many recently built houses, and many of houses under construction.
Neighbors: There are good parts and bad parts in all suburbs. Favel Way is the good part of Balga, very quiet and very close to Hamersley (current median price is almost double that of Balga). Yes, there still a small percentage of State Housing in Balga, and some new migrants lives in Balga. But it doesn’t affect the quality of neighborhood. People on State Housing Support are not necessarily bad and irresponsible. A lot of them are very nice people, but had unfortunate events happened to them. With the State Housing waiting list being as long as a few years, people who’s currently living in the house are doing what they can to make sure that they don’t lose the house. New migrants choose Balga because of its affordability and close to city, transport and all amenities.
Affordability: The cost of buying a new house is substantially lower than the house of buying a 30 year old house in the neighboring suburb – Hamersley. Wouldn’t you want to live in a newly house next to an award winning recreation centre?
Perception: Balga makes sense to me, both number and location. Older generation tend to remember Balga as the State Housing Suburb, however, the reality has changed. I am happy with Balga both as an investor and as a residence.