jdc2021

Just moved to the area as a first home buyer. Happy to live hear due to decent size and modern build homes which are affordable, fairly close to the beach and with good access to the Mornington Peninsula and bayside. I’ve lived in Highett, Cheltenham, Glenhuntly, Elwood and Mordialloc. You can find many renovated or unrenovated homes for sale, most on concrete slabs that have 2 living rooms. Plenty with two bathrooms, double garages and some with 4 bedrooms. Heaps of townhouses in the area which will bring more new residents to the area.

Carrum Downs is close to Seaford, Sandhurst, Skye and Frankston North. There is a large industrial area which is on the western side and it is a large suburb over 20,000 residents. Most of the residents seem to be Caucasian/European with a significant group of islander or Maori people as well as Indian/Sri Lankan people. There’s a huge Hindu temple here too!

It is a working class area and feels similar to Cheltenham 5-10 years ago with a bit more roughness around the edges. People mostly drive falcons, commodores or Japanese cars. Very few people own expensive European cars. Many modified and loud cars. There are a lot more ‘tough’ dogs like pit bulls, Rottweilers and mastifs. Less exotic and fancy dogs like in Elwood or even Cheltenham.

What’s great about the area are the green wedges and reserves, access to awesome bike/walking paths including Carrum downs trail, peninsula link and the Seaford wetland area (beautiful). CD borders on the Pines Flora and Fauna reserve which is huge and a great place to walk the trails or cycle. You can take your dog too, and get into nature. The people I’ve chatted with have been more friendly than in other suburbs which has been great.

The not so good… there is a lot more broken glass, discarded cans of alcohol and energy drinks than any other suburb I’ve lived in. There are almost no public bins which I personally think contributes to this issue. Frankston city council has been great and will collect dumped litter or clean graffiti very quickly. Unfortunately there are still many hoon drivers which I normally don’t care about. In this case though some of the drivers blast down residential streets at night and pull massive burnouts down residential streets, even in the nicer areas of Carrum downs and in front of schools. There are also some young guys that seem to get around on dirt bikes (not sure if they are registered) and sometimes cutting through walking tracks or lanes. People have their music loud in their cars which I don’t care about but I think is a funny difference of the area.

I like the area and feel safe here, and just think it’ll take a bit of time before it cleans up a bit and becomes more family friendly. The house prices are rising quickly and people who would’ve like to stay in more expensive areas like bayside will continue to move to Carrum downs. I’m looking forward to seeing how it continues to improve but am happy to have my own place to fix up here.