Where is the best suburb in Brisbane, AU for a migrating family?

Question

Where is the best suburb in Brisbane, AU for a migrating family?

Answer 1

In the paper this week  (www.questnews.com.au) Northern Times Friday April 4 states:  Mango Hill and Griffin have been named among the fastest growing local areas in Aust. in a recent Australian Bureau of Statistics report.  According to ABS statistics, the population of the Mango Hill-Griffin area rose by 22% from June 2006 - 2007.

It is a new area lots of people from overseas, lots of young families and older peole too.  It has infrastructure which is new also:  schools, library, huge shopping centre that will get ever bigger and bigger and will be the main server in the future (in my opinion).  There is a bus (do not know which streets it goes in or where it stops at shops) which goes to the Petrie train station.  You can get into the city from there and it takes about 40 minutes, express train even quicker.

Close to Redcliffe beach. Lots of sporting things for kids.

Look on Google Earth and look for North Lakes Shopping Centre and see how this new area is progressing.

Australia needs skilled workers so come on over.

Answer 2

Why do you want to move to Brisbekistan? I lived there for 8 years and wouldn't recommend it. Move to Sydney or Melbourne.

Answer 3

Having grown up in Brisbane I can say the following:

-  There is quite a divide between North side and South side (kinda like you are either a dog person or a cat person type of thing).  I've lived in both.

-  A lot of the places already mentioned are North side - more hip and happening and probably more for you if you are looking for somewhere to go out a lot (restaurants, nightlife etc).  They are very near the city but this is reflected in prices.

-  North side has a lot of students as there are two big uni's there.

-  More south is probably what I would call more family areas (suburban areas) but then I'm sure many would debate this - perhaps its because living a little away from the city means families are more able to afford to live there.

-  Look into places like Carrindale, Mt Gravatt, Mansfield, Sunnybank as and mentioned in definitely those mentioned by D-Lo in his above answer - they are great places.

Visit there first I would say!

Answer 4

Toowong is a very pretty suburb and has a pretty good shopping complex, but prices can get high, close by is Taringa. Nowhere near as nice but very cheap. Hope it helps.

Answer 5

Gosh this is hard question as it depends on what you are prepared/able to spend.  As you may know, Brisbane is experiencing a population explosion.   Rental properties are very difficult to come across and it is expensive to buy here too.  

I guess it is debatable but I think the best suburbs in Brisbane are Ascot, Hamilton, Wooloowin, Hawthorne, Wynnum, Samford, Paddington, Shorncliffe, Brookfield. Of course, with the best suburb tag comes HUGE price tags.

Your best bet might be to look up realestate.com.  In the search engine there, you are able to nominate price ranges.  In another window, have whereis.com (map reference) up.  This will allow you to look up suburbs (you can zoom out so you can see where the suburb is in regard to the city/bay/etc).

I'm on the north side of Brisbane so I'm more familiar with this side of town.  Ferny Hills, The Gap, Alderley and Ashgrove have some nice areas in them and they are not too far from the city if this is what you are after.  You can still get affordable (may have to do house up though) properties there.

Good Luck.

Answer 6

St.Lucia is fantastic but $$$$.

Its on the Brisbane river, 5 km from the CBD but with a lot of beautiful parks and nature.

If St.Lucia is too expensive, Taringa, Toowong, Indooroopilly (near the golf courses), Chapel Hill, Kenmore are all great.

On the other side of the river, Chelmer, Graceville, Fairfield, Yeronga.

I have recently moved my family back to Australia from Japan and did a lot of study and some trips out before hand to investigate.

The schools near the University of Queensland (St. Lucia) are exceptional!  Ironside State School is considered one of the best in the country.  It's amazing!

Queensland 15/20 years ago use to be a transient place.  The sort of town that people ended up in when they didn't know where they wanted to be.  It has really come into its own and we have found it friendly, vibrant and sophisticated!

Good luck!!

Answer 7

Why don't you shock your environment (i.e. the Aussies) and move to a flat downtown instead of a house in the suburbs?

Answer 8

I'm not an expert but having visited on a couple of occasions the areas of Cleveland, Redland Bay and Victoria Point to the south east of the city were lovely. Lots of young families, really close to the sea and nice, clean areas.

They not really in the city though so if you need to commute in to Brisbane you will be faced with a bit of a drive.