Ardeer.. a surprise little suburb

Ardeer is a little suburb just 14km from Melbourne’s CBD, sitting on a geographical spread of just 2.1 square kms. Ardeer offers rail amenity, access to freeways, and most surprisingly, has a median house price value of $677,000.

Ardeer’s history dates back to the 1950’s, and this era of construction is visible throughout Ardeer’s streets today, with a mix of both weatherboard homes and brick homes with metal window frames a common find.

Ardeer got it’s name from a Scottish suburb that was home to an explosives factory. Given that the ICI, (now Orica) explosives plant is reasonably close by at Deer Park, this shared history could be the rationale for the shared name. Ardeer certainly has an industrial history, but as many of Melbourne’s inner western suburbs have shown, gentrification can shake off this stigma.

Ardeer is separated into “north” and “south” of the creek with the latter being considered the higher amenity half, offering easy access to the train station and to Sunshine West’s Glengala Road shops and hotel.

The Kororoit Creek sits in the heart of Ardeer and provides superb walking and cycling trails and superb park amenity.

“Residential growth in Ardeer in the 1950s resulted in the opening of a primary school in 1961 (118 pupils, 2014). Many settlers were postwar European migrants, and several Catholic churches and institutions were established: a Ukrainian Catholic church, a Croatian Catholic centre, St Paul’s community centre and three Catholic schools (of which the Marian College was the first).” (Source: Victorian Places)

Ardeer has experienced significant growth and gentrification over the past seventy years, and in particular, the past decade of census data telling an interesting story. “At the 2011 census English was spoken at home by 40.9% of residents (Victoria 72.4%) and Vietnamese by 11.9% of residents (Victoria 1.6%). There were also significant numbers of Polish and Maltese speaking residents.” In our most recent census data collection, this figure leapt to 52.2% of residents speaking English at home, and an increase in Vietnamese spoken at home to over 13%.

Yesterday’s auction in Ardeer was particularly special for us, as we were bidding for a client who had particularly emotional ties to the suburb. He recollected the days he spent at the community centre as a child learning Polish dancing, and recalled the happy memories he and his family had shared around the area.

This particular house scored highly when we assessed it. This 1970 brick house sits on 603sqm north facing block, is situated in the ‘plum’ part of Ardeer (not too close to freeway noise, rail noise or high voltage power lines to the east), offers a fabulous floorplan and exhibits almost zero brick/foundation movement.

When we reported our analysis and due diligence back to our buyers we were able to include some of the infrastructure and commercial upgrades coming to this tiny suburb. Firstly, Ardeer station is part oc the Andrews’ Government’s west rail upgrade project. Ardeer Station currently has reasonably frequent stops for commuters, but the line is a VLine option only. For local city commuters, the busy Ballarat and Ararat trains are often full on arrival and the locals stand all the way to either Southern Cross, or Sunshine (where they can board an electrified commuter train.

The line is now being electrified and separated so that local commuters can enjoy more frequent services on standard commuter trains.

A new, low-rise Costco is another addition for sleepy Ardeer. Situated to the north west on Ballarat Road, near to Ardeer Station, this will certainly bring visitors to the area.

It’s Ardeer’s relative value for money that is fuelling it’s growth. Most houses in Ardeer are traditional three bedroom 1950’s and 1960’s era, and many are still on full blocks. A train trip into the CBD’s Southern Cross Station during peak hour on a weekly takes a mere 21 minutes.

With a median price of $677,000 (and quality, renovated homes on full blocks rarely eclipsing $800,000), this suburb deserves a second look from first home buyers and upgraders who are keen to nab a traditional house.

While the growth of Ardeer over the decades has remained reasonably consistent, the ten years spanning 2011 – 2021 clocked exactly 100% growth, according to our Valuer General’s collated data. This represents an annualised growth rate of 7.2%.

Limited sales in an already tight geographic patch, combined with higher-than-average search demand have pegged 3022 for us as one to watch.