What are the best places to live in Melbourne

For housing similar to Springfield Lakes within 30km of the CBD with that estate type of feel, you'll have to be looking at the North or West of Melbourne. In the north, places like Epping, Mill Park, South Morang, Mernda, Doreen, Craigieburn, Greenvale, and Mickelham all have a large amount of new housing. However these are all on the fringe so will suffer issues such as lack of infrastructure and services and traffic congestion. The same goes for suburbs in the west including Caroline Springs, Taylors Hill, Hillside, Plumpton, Rockbank, Deer Park, Tarneit, Truganina, Williams Landing and Point Cook. Given the location of Springfield Lakes in Brisbane the location of these suburbs may be what you're after. In regards to crime however you may be better off going for more inner city established areas with new infill housing developments as outer areas tend to have slightly higher crime rates. These developments could potentially have smaller houses however. An example of newer housing in established areas would be the Mount Cooper Estate in Bundoora or the Springthorpe Estate in Macleod. This is just scratching the surface, a lot more research would be a good idea!