In an internet report by domain.com.au, the median price of apartments in the last 12 months to October 2009 is $432,000 and a long tend trend of 6.7% growth per annum.

Ranked one of the most liveable suburbs in Victoria, South Yarra has outperformed many other suburbs within the 4km radius as the ‘preferred suburb’ to live in for professionals in Melbourne. In a report published on the 20th August 2005 to rank suburbs in Melbourne, fourteen indicators, from crime to entertainment, were used to rank each area, writes Martin Boulton.

According to Melbourne 2030 — the State Government’s strategy for accommodating an extra million people in Melbourne in the next 25 years — sustainable housing, shops and access to services will shape the future of our suburbs.

But while affordable housing is the key factor in where people live, other factors including crime, access to schools, restaurants and entertainment help explain why people move to, or away from, a particular suburb.

The authors of the Liveable Melbourne report, commissioned by The Age, looked at the characteristics that help define our suburbs and developed 14 indicators to try to quantify what constitutes liveability.

“As you move around Melbourne, the ability of the place to provide all things that are important to people — shops, schools, parks — varies considerably,” said co-author Dr Daniel Terrill.

So how did each suburb perform across transport, proximity to the CBD and the coast, culture, traffic congestion, education, shopping, open space, tree cover, cafes and restaurants, topography and crime?

Raw data in the form of Australian Bureau of Statistics findings, crime figures, bus routes, etc was collected for the appropriate indicator and then collated to give each suburb a ranking from one to 314, with one being the highest ranking for each indicator. If a suburb had no crime at all, for example, it was judged the best performing suburb on the crime indicator, making it number one on the list of all 314 suburbs for that indicator.

Once each suburb had a ranking for each indicator, the ranking was converted into a score between zero (lowest) and five (highest) to produce a total indicator score. South Yarra, for example, scored a five on seven of the indicators, for a  total indicator score of 53.

The lower ranking suburbs were mostly on Melbourne’s outer-suburban fringe and scored poorly on most of the indicators, particularly access to public transport.

These included, in no particular order, Hallam, Sydenham, Lysterfield, Kilsyth South, Cranbourne North and Bayswater North. A condition of the survey was that suburbs outside the top 150 would not be ranked.

Terrill said it was “implicit in the scoring methodology” that each indicator had equal weighting in the total score.

“Liveability is a subjective term … but having decided upon the indicators the rest of the process has been highly objective,” he said.

Iain Butterworth, a senior lecturer in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University, welcomed the findings but said a liveability survey should ideally include an analysis of the social values built into those environments.

“Going ahead we need to build liveability into our suburbs,” he said.

“South Yarra is No.1 because it happens to be close to the city, is close to trams, trains, entertainment (and) wealthy people can afford to live there, but is it a healthy suburb?

“Just because Rosanna came in at 150 doesn’t mean it’s a less healthy place, or the people there care less about each other than a suburb ranked somewhere near the top.”

If you have not been to the ‘coolest’ part of Melbourne, then it may be time for you to explore the shopping and entertainment precinct of South Yarra. The most prominent street is none other than Chapel Street. A list of interesting sites and buildings are found along this 4.13km trendy strip.

From the Yarra River heading south:

* The Como Centre is a multi-storey office, retail cinema and hotel complex on the north-east corner of Chapel Street and Toorak Road. It is the headquarters of ATV-10 Television. Vogue, a mixed-use development is currently under construction. The residential part of the development will be released in due time. Watch this space for it!

* The Jam Factory is an iconic shopping, cinema and entertainment complex on the corner of Garden Street. More information can be found on http://www.thejamfactory.com.au/

* Just off Elizabeth Street is the Prahran Market, a fresh food market which has occupied its present site for over 120 years.

* The Chapel off Chapel theatre and gallery venue is at the end of Carlton Street.

* Pran Central at the corner of Commercial Road is a redevelopment of a National Trust classified building into a residential and commercial complex with a multicultural food court.

* Greville Street is a small niche shopping strip.

* Prahran Town Hall, on the corner of Greville Street was opened in 1861. The original hall was built in 1861 to the design of local architects Crouch & Wilson in the popular Italianate style of Melbourne at the time, including renaissance inspired interior
spaces. The hall was extended some years later to include a City Hall (1888) in a complementing style. In 1994, after the amalgamation of the City of Prahran with the City of Malvern to form the City of Stonnington, the town hall now functions as the secondary offices for the city council.

* The Prahran campus of Swinburne University is near the south west corner of High Street. There has been quite a number of developments with studios targeting at residences for students in this area.

* The first bowling club in Australia, the Melbourne Bowling Club, is situated behind Chapel Street in Union Street. The club was founded on 11 March 1864.

* The Astor Theatre on the south west corner of Dandenong Road is a Heritage Victoria registered, 1930’s art deco cinema which seats over 1100 people.

* St Michael’s Grammar School now incorporates many of the area’s old buildings.

Download the map from this site. For more information on our upcoming release, VOGUE, please contact me via email.

Vogue South Yarra apartments are positioned at the heart of Chapel Street, Melbourne’s
most stylish shopping, dining and entertainment precinct. VOGUE, a mixed-use development made up of both splendid shopping and residential apartments above it is set to be one of the most iconic tower in the prestigious suburb of South Yarra.

South Yarra needs no introduction. Chapel street is analogus to Orchard rd of Singapore with desirable lifestyle options. It’s a place where most of the young, high-income earners yearn to live in.

From an investment perspective, gross rental yield should be slightly higher than 5% for selected units(with carpark) and according to homepriceguide, the median price of units has grown by 7% between March 2009 and September 2009 and currently the median price of units in the suburb is $442,000.

Property managers have reported that units take roughly 3-6 days to be tenanted the moment an application is received from a prospective tenant, hence the vacancy period of units in this are is reduced dramatically.

Full specifications and cashflow analysis can be produced upon request. We don’t think the entire development suits investors but at least of handful of the units would do well from an investment perspective. Just drop me an email and we will take it off from there.

Have a awesome week ahead!

Australia’s central bank unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate from a 49-year low by a quarter percentage point amid signs the nation’s economy is strengthening. Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens increased the overnight cash rate target to 3.25 percent from 3 percent in Sydney yesterday.

Only one of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast today’s decision. The rest predicted no change. Australia is the first Group of 20 nation to raise borrowing costs since the start of the global financial crisis more than a year ago. Rising job vacancies, retail sales and house prices, plus surging business and consumer confidence support Stevens’ view the economy is accelerating enough to scrap the bank’s “emergency” rate setting.

“It makes sense for the Reserve Bank to start the tightening cycle at the earliest opportunity,” Stephen Walters, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney, said ahead of today’s increase, which he forecast. There has recently been “a near uninterrupted stream of healthy economic data.”

Governor Stevens, who cut the benchmark lending rate by a record 4.25 percentage points between September 2008 and April to cushion the economy against fallout from the global credit squeeze, said on Sept. 28 that compared with past recessions, “this has been a good episode for Australia.”

“In due course, both fiscal and monetary support will need to be unwound as private demand increases,” Stevens told a Senate committee in Sydney.