FTMan

Ferntree Gully is a suburb that is ideal for families with children. It is a safe and peaceful suburb with lots of public amenities including libraries, parks and bike tracks. There are many good schools for you to choose from including some of those in the surrounding suburbs. A Swinburne University branch campus is situated in the neighbouring suburb of Scoresby, Monash University main campus and Deakin University branch campus are also located within 15 km from Ferntree Gully, offering good opportunities for tertiary education to the children living here. There are many shopping centres within Ferntree Gully or nearby for your shopping and banking convenience as well as dining. For example, the famous Knox City shopping centre which houses the Myer department store, branches of the major banks, Target, Coles, Kmart, Harris Scarfe, many boutiques, cafes and shops is also situated here (strictly speaking should be nearby but some people actually treat Knox City shopping centre as part of Ferntree Gully !). Just outside of this major shopping centre, there is the so-called Ozone - where you will find lots of dining outlets serving a great variety of cuisines including traditional Aussie, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indonesian food, electrical & electronic goods shops such as Harvey Norman, JB HiFi and Dick Smith, the Village Cinema and amusement arcade. This suburb is well serviced by public transports. There is a railway station within the suburb and two other nearby stations in the neighbouring suburbs of Upper Ferntree Gully and Boronia. Bus services are very frequent and serve most areas within the suburb very well. Job wise, there is plenty of opportunities ranging from professional to factory workers and retail employees.

I am of the opinion that the properties in Ferntree Gully are very good value for money - generally occupying large land blocks and not being over-priced because the suburb has been traditionally overlooked by immigrants and investors. However, this trend is changing and it is attracting more and more people to buy and live here. If you look at its median price, you will find that it increased steadily over the last ten years or so at an annual rate of around 10% per annum. I bet this trend will continue if not improve significantly over the next decade !