Is Albury a good place to live?
Is it a good place to live in? It's too far to travel to inspect at this current moment, but I will do that in the future.
Where are the best places to live? Nice surrounding suburbs? What are some suburbs to avoid moving to (and why)?
I've seen people saying to avoid Lavington but I haven't seen a single explanation. Please leave a reason for judgement, it would really help! Just a nice house for two near a high school and a supermarket is all I'm looking for.
Looking to rent for under $400 p/w but I just don't know enough about the area. Please and thank you!
7 Answers
I moved to lavington and I dont like it at all
I know there are problems in every suburb but Albury central is much better, definitely avoid Glenroy and parts of East Albury good luck with your search.
Glenroy is ok if you live in the Norris Park Estate area, it's the older part of Glenroy that has the reputation apparently but i don't go down there much so can't really comment. Norris Park Estate is a newer area about 25 yrs old and has quality housing. I've lived here for 13 Months and never had an issue.
Thurgoona is the growth corridor of Albury. It has large blocks and is popular with young families looking to build. It has rapidly improving services and amenity around the Charles Sturt University campus. If you want to build that is the place to go. South Albury is largely established mid century property. It is walkable distance to the centre of Albury. East Albury is split between estates developed over the last 20 years (eg. Easternview Estate) and established mid century property. There are some pockets to avoid on the North side of Borella Rd. Id agree that there are pockets to avoid in Glenroy, Lavington & Springdale Heights. If you are after early century heritage homes, you should look at Central Albury and Forest Hill.
Thurgoona is the best Albury suburb of all. It is great to build your new house and to buy a modern established property as well. It offers safe and friendly neighbourhoods with lots of green walking places, cycling paths and easy connection to nature. It has good education pool, lovely eating out places (e.g. Kinross country style pub), children playgrounds, walking trucks and quite a few places to let your dog run. With high returns on rents ( over $500.00 weekly) it is a very attractive suburb to buy your investment property. It is located within short eight minutes drive to Albury biggest shopping centers and five minutes to the biggest Harris Farm Fresh Food Market in New South Wales. It still retains it's country feel with farms and lakes within five minutes drive.
Hi @karinat,
There are good and bad pockets everywhere. Lavington does have high rates of unemployment and some social problems, however, there are plenty of lovely people and neighbourhoods there.
You should find PLENTY of rental options for under $400 per week, but the animal ownership might be a sticking point with some landlords. Almost everyone here has pets though, so I imagine if you ask around you will find a suitable property.
Albury High School is probably the best secondary school in Albury, however, each school has its specialty!
Broad generalisation on Lavington and Glenroy in the comments previously. There are most definetly some lovely homes in these areas with good families. North Albury is also nice and homes, block size, trees, parks and roads in these areas give actual space for peace and quiet. In general talk to neighbours, and youll find good people all around. If you want to pay inflated prices go for central Albury or try out at Doctors Point over the hill past the hospital ha ha ha. Yes old parts of Thurgoona are nice, but it is quickly becoming congested. The traffic and main roads are still a concern even after recent works the flows are busy, only have to look a map to see theres not a whole lot of planning for that many extra cars! Lets hope some of these tree corridors dont get bulldozed by greedy developers selling small blocks. They have potential to remain an asset if the suburb stops growing and some foresight into other community needs are planned. Wodonga has similar changes with all suburbs expanding and more pushing out into previous farmland. Jindera, Table Top (NSW-Albury outskirts), Baranduda, Barnawartha (VIC-Wodonga outskirts) are basically all becoming add ons, almost all not separate anymore since expansion! Beechworth and surrounds is very popular too. Lifestyle properties further out (10-20min) offer really nice size and value. If your looking for lifestyle and direction just a little further on outskirts offer gorgeous views and generous properties, again real estate is jumping in prices but affordable in comparison to major cities. Areas all around have lots of diverse food producers. From a local having lived around here for over 30 years, the entire regions growth in past couple of years alone is incredible.
Good overview annab46, yes too many hang-ups from some people about Lavington and Glenroy. I know there's some social issues there but that's in every town you come across but from what I see, and as you mentioned, Lavington has some very good facilities. I bought a home in Glenroy only just recently, I'm yet to move in but I did my research and found that Glenroy in Norris Park estates have some really nice well looked after homes. Also I see that the Person Karinat wants a rental house, with anything that's under $400pw right now generally has about 80 applications so it's a very tight rental market.
Yes I agree, I recently bought a house in the Norris Park Estate and it's really convenient and overall a really clean suburb with modern housing. I do get around most the Lavington and older Glenroy areas due to my job and I've found that while it's a much older area, it's much better than some places I've seen. You'll find that a lot of the trouble makers don't tend to stick around for very long till they are moved on, same goes with Lavington, there are really nice everyday people that have been there for many years and the useless ones usually don't stay around for too long. It is however a high welfare area and accommodation is much cheaper but don't let that put you off, I've met a lot of nice people there. You've just got to do some due diligence to find out which are the best streets. There are half hour bus services in Lavington and 1 hourly services in Glenroy and 2 hourly on Sundays. It's easy to ride a bicycle from Norris Park estate to the heart of Albury within 20 minutes with many bike paths to use. Norris Park doesn't appear to be prone to flooding during heavy rain periods (except at the Oval which becomes a lake) Being a River Town, there are parts of Albury that floods so if you're buying a house here, go and get recent flood maps from the Council before you buy.
Hi,
So I have the same question as well ? Which suburd should i avoid ? I have heard Thurgoona, east albury and south albury is the place to go. Is that reasonable ?
What is Lavington like to like in ?
Lavington is a diverse suburb with a range of properties from old to new, low price to high, and small to large. Public transport is limited, but Lavington has its own shopping centre, medical centre, library, schools and lots of essential services, so it is walkable. There are plenty of sports grounds and playgrounds, community centres and cafes. It is a more affordable part of town, developed as a family-oriented suburb 40-50 years ago, so it is laid out like a family-oriented suburb - spacious, if a little dated. A big plus for Lavington is that it has two indoor 25m pools that operate year round for lap swimming, swim squads & kids swimming lessons. No other suburb in Albury has that. Many of the interesting sports options are located in Lavington & North Albury (cheaper rent!) Such as Gymnastics, Karate, Dance Schools & more. The main sports ground for Albury, Lavington Sports Ground, has also just been opened and is an excellent facility. Lavington used to have the main highway from Sydney to Melbourne running through it (Wagga Road, before the highway bypass) so this main stretch through town is more industrial - old servos, motels, etc that used to service the highway traffic. There are efforts to rejuvenate the old highway & the central shopping area and put the focus back on liveability for local residents.
@Ryan Chu,
There really are nice parts of every suburb, and every suburb has busier streets and quieter streets. It really depends on the lifestyle you're after? Do you want to walk to work? Do you have a particular school in mind? In general however, the northern side of South Albury is better than the south side (avoid south of Ebden Street). Thurgoona is a typical sprawling estate with winding courts and kit homes, if you like that sort of thing. There are small and large blocks, new homes and some from earlier estate days. There are parts of Thurgoona with lots of established native trees, and parts that are still reclaimed paddocks that are bare. Its a 10 minute drive to town, but there are shops, gyms, parks, childcare and schools in Thurgoona to meet your needs day to day. East Albury is a mixture of older brick homes and weatherboards - most houses are from 1970 and before. Established European trees, sloping blocks, but close to town. A few small parks, a cafe, and a community garden back onto the main cycling trail in Albury. If you live on the lower side of the hill its a short walk, but towards the top of the hill you can get nice views. The flat area on the north side of Borella road is good value, and the section closest to town is quite nice. The back pocket of East Albury north of Borella Road and East of East Street is probably best to avoid. The Easternview Estate is further out from town, typical new housing estate but quite close to town by driving. Easternview is right next to a large homemakers centre & bunnings complex.
There are lovely parts of North Albury, particularly the section north of North Street up to Fallon St, west of Mate Street. Leafy streets with established brick homes and good access to town. West Albury has great value homes and lots of established native trees, and Pemberton Estate is a typical modern housing estate with custom built homes, and views across the alps and north east Victoria. Quite nice. Central Albury has lots of options, but the central grid of town is quite noisy - around the base of monument hill and the Mercy hospital there are lots of good options, and a mixture of housing from early to mid century.
The places I would avoid would honestly only be Glenroy, Lavington & Springdale Heights - because they are more isolated, less access to services, and slightly less reliable safety. But in each of those suburbs there are nice blocks. The hill in Glenroy has lovely views and custom properties that back onto the nature reserve and are perfectly lovely. I just think that the other areas have more going for them, better access to services, better property appreciation (if you're buying). Those three suburbs (and the South end of South Albury) are the crime centres, but its all very mild, in comparison to metropolitan areas.
I havn't seen any kit homes in Thurgoona. I definitely could imagine and even expierence how great it feels to live in a modern Thurgoona home on a descent block of land with a bit of privacy and lots of walking and running spaces for myself and my dog. South Albury is very prawn to flooding and has lots of old moldy looking dwellings. It is a nice suburb though.
I think if you looked in the Norris Park Estate of Glenroy, you'll find it's a nice area, nicely looked after houses and I don't believe that crime is any worse than some areas of Thurgoona. It's got an awesome IGA with really good takeaway food too and a bottle shop section. It's also a nice 5km easy bicycle ride to the main Albury township. Yes it'd be nice and ideal to live in the heart of the township but unless you've got $800 to 1.2 mil at your disposal, it's a bit expensive.
I can vouch for the Norris Park Estate in Glenroy, bought a nice brick house with a double Garage for a quarter the cost of same in Sydney, as mentioned above, the IGA is very convenient with good takeaway, a good old fashioned burner with everything on it for under $10. There's good bushwalking on the Mountain behind the estate that you can access from either the end of Emma Way or on the top of the Hill from Burrows Road. Easy to ride a bike everywhere from here except Nail Can Hill which is a challenge. Lots of MTN bike trails in there from the Hill. It doesn't take very long at all to travel by car to all parts of Albury and even Wodonga, Good hourly Bus services that go around Norris Park on Weekdays and Saturdays and 2 Hours on Sundays into Albury or Lavington shopping centre, so very convenient.
Hi Christine. Can you explain the reasons why you dont like Lavington? Thanks