9 Anglis Court, Werribee, recently sold for $842,000 — but the agent behind the sale thinks there’s plenty of room left for home values in the area to rise yet.

---

Affordable Melbourne suburbs written off as boring or with a bad reputation have been tipped as the big winners of the city’s next housing boom.

From Werribee in the city’s west to Bellfield in the north and Croydon in the east, areas that have rarely been near the top of shopping lists are poised for a lift as affordability and surging migration drives buyers their way.

With typical house prices below or close to Melbourne’s $914,000 median value, HockingStuart and Belle Property’s Victorian head Anthony Webb said these were the suburbs people would pick if they did a “blind taste test”.

RELATED: Huge change to how Aussies do real estate

Millions of Aussies face uncertain mortgage future amid rates hold and high inflation

‘Poison chalice’: The Block serial buyer issues stark warning on negative gearing debate

“The question we always get is where is the next hot spot, and most of the time we go with out gut and an area you know reasonably well,” Mr Webb said.

“But if you remove the name of the suburbs and their locations and just went based on the key things people are looking for when they buy a home, this is what you get.”

The five suburbs, which also include Bundoora and Pascoe Vale South, were selected based on features including recreational spaces, cafes, healthcare, transport and freeway access, as well as the quality of surrounding suburbs and local education from schools to universities.

Affordability was also heavily weighted, with Pascoe Vale South the only suburb with a median house price above $1m to make the list.

What you get for your money: 9 Anglis Court, Werribee, sold for $842,000 in July.

---

Mr Webb said places like Werribee were already showing signs of demand from new migrant communities, who were less likely to have preconceived notions about an area, and they were already seeing first-home buyers who couldn’t afford to live where they had grown up and were now buying the best home for their needs that they could afford.

“We want to move away from the stigmas associated with some of the suburbs,” Mr Webb said.

“And the cafes and the restaurants and even the quality of neighbouring suburbs will increase as these suburbs go to the next level.”

HockingStuart Werribee’s Justin Tong said the suburb’s reputation as the home of a sewerage treatment plant was erroneous, with the facility actually located in a neighbouring ‘burb — and the smell some motorists noticed on the freeway actually coming from fertiliser at Werribee South’s market farms.

The house on a split block at 1/7 Gordon St, Croydon, is for sale with a $770,000 asking price that covers a three-bedroom home and 445sq m of land.

---

“Most people have blindly overlooked part of all the western suburbs because they’ve had a negative stigma around them,” Mr Tong said.

“But it’s becoming more and more gentrified and it’s got affordable price tags.”

The agent said while getting a house in most part of Melbourne’s east was impossible for less than $1m, a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house could be bought in Werribee for $750,000.

With that affordability luring an increasing number of “upwardly mobile” families to the area, Mr Tong said it was poised for price rises and a new image in the near future.

HockingStuart Preston’s Joe Ledda said while Bellfield, between Ivanhoe and Heidelberg, had been a key part of Melbourne’s Olympics in 1956, it was easily overlooked as a bit boring and “the poor cousin that nobody really knows”.

“But it’s affordable and it’s surrounded by infrastructure and shopping centres,” Mr Ledda said.

14 Davern St, Pascoe Vale South, has a four-bedroom floorplan and is expected to sell for $1.1m-$1.15m when it goes to auction on October 5.

---

And while Pascoe Vale South was another area many homebuyers wouldn’t know of as distinct from neighbouring Pascoe Vale, the agent added that it had good access to CityLink and other handy features that would make it increasingly appealing.

“That’s going to happen in Bellfield and Pascoe Vale South, and it could just be a local school doing well that’s needed to really put them on the map,” Mr Ledda said.

MELBOURNE’S BEST, BUT EASILY OVERLOOKED SUBURBS

WERRIBEE

Recreation: 5

Cafes: 3

Neighbouring suburbs: 3

Education: 4

Shops: 5

Healthcare: 5

Freeway access: 5

Public transport: 4

CBD proximity: 2

Median price: $620,000 (5)

Overall score: 41

Old-school charm can also be found in Werribee, with 19 Tesron Court recently sold there for $747,500. The price includes a four-bedroom floorplan and a 642sq m block.

---

CROYDON

Recreation: 5

Cafes: 3

Neighbouring suburbs: 4

Education: 4

Shops: 4

Healthcare: 4

Freeway access: 5

Public transport: 5

CBD proximity: 3

Median price: $910,000 (4)

Overall score: 40

BELLFIELD

Recreation: 4

Cafes: 2

Neighbouring suburbs: 4

Education: 4

Shops: 4

Healthcare: 5

Freeway access: 4

Public transport: 3

CBD proximity: 5

Median price: $940,000 (4)

Overall score: 39

129 Oriel Rd, Bellfield, has an $875,000-$925,000 price guide despite a 600sq m block within 2km of a suburb, Ivanhoe, where similarly sized land can be worth more than $1m.

---

BUNDOORA

Recreation: 5

Cafes: 3

Neighbouring suburbs: 2

Education: 5

Shops: 4

Healthcare: 4

Freeway access: 3

Public transport: 4

CBD proximity: 3

Median price: $855,000 (4)

Overall score: 37

9 Cabernet Cres, Bundoora, has been listed for $880,000-$968,000, but in a few years could be in for a lift if Belle Property’s Anthony Webb’s expectations come to pass.

---

PASCOE VALE SOUTH

Recreation: 2

Cafes: 2

Neighbouring suburbs: 5

Education: 4

Shops: 2

Healthcare: 3

Freeway access: 5

Public transport: 4

CBD proximity: 5

Median price: $1.17m (2)

Overall score: 34

Source: Belle Property, PropTrack (median prices)

Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.

MORE: Thunderbirds-inspired compound smashes Lilydale’s residential price record

The Block 2024 episodes 26/27 recap: Teams attack sisters for ‘lying’ about reno experience

Millions tied up in old Victorian bikie clubhouses revealed