Advice on Coogee and surrounding area

[budeman]

My wife and I are moving out in Sept with out two boys (4 & 1) and we are now in the 'what suburb are we going to live in' phase. We have earmarked a few by narrowing it down - distance to CDB/a beach and of course affordability. (not looked at school yet but will do)

No doubt all the places that look good on paper we will probably dismiss straight off when we get there but I thought it would be good to get the lowdown on a couple. One that ticked a few boxes was Coogee and the areas around it (probably more the areas around it affordability wise)

 

From lokoing at the net I know there has been a lot of development and a new marina - is this still going on? I imagine house prices have gone up in recent years because of this? How has it affected the area?

 

Any general advice on places like Coogee, Spearwood, Munster? Decent primary schools?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mark.

[budeman]

Sorry to bump but has anyone know anything about these areas at all?

[Bristle]

There is ongoing development at Coogee Marina and also a lot new houses being built on the edge of Coogee near Spearwood.

We live in Munster and enjoy being here as we are only a few minutes drive from the beach and can be in Fremantle in 20 mins by bus. Perth CBD is approx 20-25 mins by car when the freeway isn't busy. The train takes approx 30 mins from Freo station and approx 20 mins from Cockburn Central station.

When we were looking for a rental early last year there was lots of competition for those in Coogee & Munster so we were lucky to get a reasonably priced one in Munster. There seems to be more rentals about now but the prices don't seem to have dropped much.

Can't comment on schools as we don't have kids.

[Lou8670]

Love Coogee! Close to Freo and the beach and the marina looks like an amazing development; house prices there though are steep! If you're commuting to Perth it's a bit of a pain as you'll have to get a bus to the train station and then the line takes you through all the suburbs north of the river so it takes some time. I don't know about schools other than I heard the catchment ones weren't great so you might prefer to go private...makes it expensive...steep house prices and school fees. I have friends who took a short term let there but opted to come south to Secret Harbour and send their kids private here which is way cheaper. We're all different though and for some this far south is too quiet. Probably best not to decide until you're here.

[Druid]

We looked at building in Coogee as we love Freo but couldnt afford to buy an established house there, yes its expensive but no more expensive than building in Burns Beach, problem is commuting, its a royal pain in the bum to get anywhere, wife would have had to bus or drive to Freo, then train it in, or drive to Murdoch, thats the problem with SOR, you are on the wrong side of the river and only have two bridges to get accross to the city, I would have had to commute to the Airport every day as well, another problem we found is its very industrial, Once you get south of Coogee, there is nothing residential until Rockingham, even a lot of Freo is industrial, its hard to get near the beach, the coast North of Freo is all residential up to almost Yanchep with the exception of the Barracks and the odd marina or two

[Scot01]

Agree with post above. problem with Coogee is that it is a nice new development surrounded by poorer areas. The choice of govt high schools nearby is really limited - all badly performing high schools . May be they'll improve but with, and the commuting problems, I'd look elsewhere.

[Coogeejo]

Hi we live in Coogee and really love it, it can be expensive though, currently living with the in-laws. The new area of Munster is nice and a cheaper alternative. Not really sure about the older area of Spearwood, but they are building lots of new places at Eliza Ponds off Hamilton Road. Would check it out thoroughly first. Excellent primary school in Coogee on Mayor Road. Good to register children at the school asap as we had problems getting our son into kindy there as we only moved here last August, think that for other years you will be fine if living within the boundary. Good parks and so lovely to live near the beach. Other good areas an 18 min drive away are Hammond Park, Success, Atwell and Aubin Grove, which are nearer to the freeway and transport links and also have good primary schools. Feel free to ask any questions as we moved out last year.

[budeman]

Thanks for all the advice – I did wonder about the commuting side of things with it being so far from a train station. I was looking at getting the train in from Cockburn central station as it didn’t seem to be too long to get in then but then as mentioned it’s the added time to get to the station that makes a difference. Does anyone park at Cockburn for commuting? Is it a struggle to get a place in the morning? I do have visions of cycling there (more likely thinking about it and not bothering!)

 

I think affordability wise we would be somewhere between Coogee and Cockburn station so Beeliar and Munster would be on the radar – will definitely have to look into schools a bit more to see what is available.