IAIN'S MELBOURNE PURCHASEWhere we'll be
sourcing for you
Your first move into the Melbourne market, and property number two in the portfolio. A focused shortlist of suburbs that fit your $850k to $900k budget and your reno uplift plan, screened for undervalued pockets with short to medium term value upside.
The brief
This is the first step of your sourcing process and your first purchase in Melbourne. Building on Property 1 in Perth, the play here is to leverage an undervalued pocket plus a sharp reno to drive short to medium term equity. We have screened 27 suburbs and pulled 13 onto the watch list: the ones that fit your $850k to $900k purchase budget, with around $50k set aside to renovate and add value after settlement.
The logic is simple. We aim to buy at or under the local median, so your $50k reno budget stays intact and you are creating equity rather than paying for someone else\'s finished product. We weight tight supply, strong rental demand, recent and long run growth, and a pocket with real headroom to lift.
Worth saying up front: a median is just the middle of the market. Even in the dearer pockets there is stock below median that we source both on market and off market, so none of these suburbs are off the table. The budget shapes where we hunt hardest, not where we are allowed to look.
Guiding principles
Ten years inside these corridors
We have transacted across Melbourne's West, North and Northeast for over a decade. For your first Melbourne purchase that matters: we already know the streets, the comparables and which blocks lift first, so you skip the learning curve.
The network is the edge
Years of repeat business with local agents gets us first call on pre market stock, early heads up on listings and access to vendors who only deal through advocates. That is how we find your property before the rest of the buyer pool sees it.
Undervalued, not overexposed
Off market is one channel, not the only one. The real edge is seeing value before the crowd, whether that is a pre market chat, a stale listing with room to move, or an auction where emotion has priced others out. We negotiate on fundamentals, not frenzy.
Demand you can feel in the numbers
Vacancy under 1.5 percent paired with tight days on market tells us a suburb is competing hard for tenants and buyers. That is the leading indicator of rent growth and resale strength, and for your brief it is non negotiable.
Momentum on a credible base
Recent growth has to sit on top of a ten year track record, not a one year spike. We back pockets that have compounded steadily and still have headroom to lift, so your short to medium term uplift rests on real fundamentals.
A reno that pays for itself
Your $50k reno budget is tested against local comparable sales before you sign, not after. We only proceed where the after reno valuation creates real equity, so the works actually lift the asset rather than just refresh the kitchen.
Suburb shortlist
| Suburb | Typical price | Weekly rent | Rental return | Growth 1yr | Growth 5yr | Growth 10yr | Vacancy | Auction success | Days to sell | Area profile |
|---|
Your journey so far
Where we are now, and what is coming next as we move toward your first Melbourne purchase.
Suburb strategy Completed
June 2026Screen the market, agree the suburbs we hunt, and lock the brief. That is this document.
Sourcing In progress
NowAlready underway. We are working our agent network and off market channels across the watch list and considering early options now. You will start to see them as they make our cut. We will not waste your time with anything that does not.
Inspect & assess Up next
As candidates landWe inspect, check the reno scope and the comparable sales, and pressure test the numbers before you commit a dollar.
Negotiate & secure Ahead
Target: Q3 2026We negotiate or bid on your behalf, manage the contract, and hand you a property ready for the value add work.