EPISODE 30 SUBURB SPOTLIGHT -BALMAIN

Marcus: Hi, and welcome to Sydney Property Insider, your weekly podcast speaking about all things property in the city of Sydney. Michelle and I are with you once again, and we are here with another Suburb Spotlight, this week on Balmain. Michelle, how's your week been?

Michelle: Good, and yours?

Marcus: Yeah, really well, really well. This week, we are moving from Paddington over to the Inner West, and we're moving to the very gentrified suburb of Balmain.

Michelle: That's right. Yes. Now, I love Balmain. I used to work around there, and it's one of the suburbs that is close to my home. But did you know that the history of Balmain starts with William Balmain, who was the principal surgeon of and the surgeon? He was really the one who started Balmain because he received a grant in 1800 of 550 acres for services rendered from the governor of New South Wales.

In 1859, a petition was signed by the residents requesting that the borough of Balmain was incorporated. So, really, the suburb really started developing between 1830 and 1850. 1810 was when Birchgrove House was built by John Burton. That's believed to be the first house on the peninsula. Now, that overlooks Snails Bay. Beautiful place.

But the reliance on steamers and ferries and coastal vessels for both travel and trade really resulted in the establishment of the shipyards along the harbor side there. With the shipyards, the advent of the shipyards, it brought the workers who wanted to live close to their place of work, wanted to keep the commute short. As the population increased, so did the demand for services. So you got the houses, the shops, the churches, schools, police, a local hospital, and a local government.

Marcus: And the pubs.

Michelle: Don't forget the pubs. Quite a few of them in Balmain. By the 1880s, Balmain claimed to be the leading social suburb in Sydney. Numerous clubs were formed at that time, as well, including rowing, swimming, bowling, and cricket. Institutes such as the Balmain Library Institute, the Balmain's Working Men's Institute, and the Balmain School of the Arts was also established around that time.

Marcus: Which, interestingly, then, if you go a few years later than that, the Australian Labor Party was actually ... is claimed to have its oldest branch in Balmain from 1891, so really the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party, which again goes

hand in hand with, I guess, the demographics of the area and the people in the area at that time.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. Now, because of that prosperity and the security of Balmain, the suburb continued to attract the industry to the peninsula. However, by the late 1880s, it was really clear that the suburb had become overcrowded and badly organized. Factories were opened next door to houses and schools, and streets had been created in the most inappropriate places. The suburb went into decline.

By the early 20th century, the industrial activity had dropped off, and the older population was moving out of the suburb and the younger, poorer population was moving into the area. The affluent character that Balmain once had was really changing. By 1933, 38.1% of all Balmain workers were unemployed. Compare that to the New South Wales average at the time of 18.4%, so significantly higher than the New South Wales average. It really turned into a slum, almost.

Obviously, now, looking the way Balmain is now, it's turned around again completely. Where once it was a workers' suburb, it's very much a white-collar suburb now, affluent, one of the most expensive suburbs in the Inner West, and obviously that's continuing to stay that way, obviously because of its proximity to the CBD, as well, and the convenience that it has there.

Marcus: Yeah. Certainly, with that history, it's amazing to see the change over the years from that blue-collar, sort of socialist and Labor Party movement to, really, that white-collar, absolute professional services group of people that now reside in Balmain. As late as 2016, in the census we were seeing that Balmain had just over 10,000 people, being smaller than Paddington, which we mentioned the other week, but still certainly larger than Naremburn or other suburbs that we've mentioned prior.

It really is a white-collar suburb, and those jobs take over 80% of the employment in the area. This is really a huge shakeup from Balmain's roots as that working-class area. I think it was New South Wales' premier Neville Wran who once said, "You can take the boy out of Balmain, but you can't take Balmain out of the boy." If they said that these days, it would be, "You can take the boy out of the BMW SUV, but you can't take the BMW SUV out of the boy."

So it's really changed over the years, and it has been changing for a number of years. Prime Minister Paul Keating even once made note of the basket weavers of Balmain. So you've moved from the heart and soul of the Labor Party to where it was almost cast aside as far too yuppie and far too upmarket. In terms of the people that lived there, banking, financial services are two of the most popular industries of employment in the area.

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You've got married couples being just over 43% of the population, which is, again, lower a population ratio than the New South Wales average of 48%. One of the things I found really surprising when I started doing some research was that their religious affiliation constitutes 41% of the population against 25% across New South Wales wide, and the largest group of, I guess, heritage are Australian and English.

I had always, in my head, I guess even from 25, 30 years ago growing up, associated Balmain with a traditionally strong Italian heritage and having Leichhardt, the , having Italian heritage links. I also, I guess, expected Catholicism to be high and have a high proportion, but it really is only a ... It's 22% of the suburb's population, which again is lower even than the state average.

Michelle: I think it's probably also due because there is probably a larger contingence of ex-pats living on the Balmain peninsula.

Marcus: Certainly true. Yeah.

Michelle: So that brings with them the dilution of that strong heritage Catholic background.

Marcus: Now, in terms of the types of properties that are around, you've got townhouses and terrace houses, which are just over half or 55% of the residences in the area. You can certainly appreciate when you walk through that fully detached houses are only less than 10%, in that 8.6%.

Michelle: 8.6. Yeah. Yeah.

Marcus: Those are really well held on to in the area.

Michelle: You also find that people, once they move to the peninsula, be it Balmain or Birchgrove or Rozelle, that people tend to upgrade or downsize within that area, so people tend to not leave. Once you're on the peninsula, you never go. That's what people tend to say. So, yeah, it's a tight pocket of property for sure.

Now, if you're looking at the numbers, the stats, on Balmain, both houses and units, so if you're looking at houses, whilst it's recorded as having .1% negative growth this year from last year, it actually didn't have any negative growth since 2012. So hasn’t gone down since 2012. But looking at this year, for example, only 29 houses have sold compared to 2017 overall had 126 sales.

So we're well behind on those numbers. That contraction of the .1% could well be due because of the lack of stock, anyway.

Marcus: Yeah, especially given that we're now in-

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Michelle: It doesn't really give you, yeah, a good overview of what the real median price should be, but that median price sits at just over 2 mil at 2 million 75. Now, if you compare that to Birchgrove, for example, where only 7 houses have sold in this year, that traditionally is a more expensive suburb, but the median has just come down to a million 95. Again, I don't think that's a true reflection because the previous year it was 2.3 million with 45 sales overall.

So Birchgrove is an even smaller pocket compared to Balmain. Rozelle is traditionally seen as the more-value-for-money suburb next to it. There, the median price is at $1.475m, so that's considerably lower than the Balmain with just over 2 mil. When you're looking at units, the median price for units in Balmain is 1.75m, down from 1.315 for last year. But, again, only a small number of properties have sold there: only 28 in 2018 compared to 82 in 2017. Obviously, we're in the depth of winter right now.

Marcus: Yeah, as we record this in mid- to late-August 2018. But, still, the numbers against, I guess, 12 months of 2017 are far behind where you would expect them to be this far into the calendar year.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. So when you're looking at price segmentation over the last 12 months, in what price bracket were most properties sold? When you're looking at houses in Balmain, most properties were sold between the one and a half to two million. Then there's still a fair amount between two to two and a half, and two and a half to three, and over three mil. So, really, your entry point is one and a half to two and then upwards from there.

Now, with units, there's two sort of peaks there from 1 to 1.2 and then one and a half to two, so that would suggest obviously the one- and the two-bedders and perhaps the three-bedders that are in that pocket. So if you're looking to buy a unit in Balmain, that's probably a decent budget to have going from around one million upwards.

So, yeah, those are the numbers. It's definitely, obviously, like I said before, one of the most expensive suburbs in the Inner West in Sydney because of that proximity to CBD and, obviously, also the water all around it, the lifestyle that it offers people. It's a very tightly held pocket.

Marcus: It certainly is. Speaking, I guess, about that proximity to the CBD, talking about the transport links for those people that are looking to work, people driving to work is the most ... I guess the most likely thing that people do. Trains are somewhat non-existent in Balmain because the nearest one would most likely be Stanmore. So by the time you hike your way to Stanmore, you might as well just hike your way into the city.

Buses are a lot better. You've got three choices. You've got the 433, which will get you to the Central Station. You've got the 441 and 442 into the CBD. Each of those takes, depending on traffic, 15 to 20 minutes. So you can use buses, but

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alternatively, as you alluded to, being on the water, this is the first suburb I think that we've done where you can take the ferry.

The ferry to work is a really attractive option if it works for you. You can take the ferry either out west to if you work out towards Parramatta way, or you can take it into the city to Barangaroo. You can take it over to Pyrmont. You can take it to Circular Quay, and then from Circular Quay that again offers you the option of going across the bridge to Milsons Point, over towards Taronga Zoo over to the eastern suburbs as well.

Michelle: The other interesting thing that I saw with stats for the travel to work is that since 2011, and the latest numbers we have from 2016, traveling by car has actually gone down from 41% to just over 35%, and walking to work and ferry use has gone up. I guess I imagine that a percentage of people who used to drive in to city are now choosing to work from home as well because-

Marcus: Yeah, of course. Certainly, with apps and the way that the mobile workforce has evolved over time, you can certainly imagine that more and more people are choosing to work from home or have the ability to work from home.

Michelle: Yeah. Now, one thing that is shaking up that part of the world is WestConnex. Obviously, Balmain is going to have that new Link tunnel going under the peninsula as well as, obviously, the latest un-coverings by WestConnex have gone, "Surprise: we're going to be using the water-side docks, the White Bay area there, for more usage to do with WestConnex, the M4 and M5 linking."

Now, because that keeps changing from one week to the next, we're not going to spend too much time on it, I guess, today because I think the best thing for our listeners to do is just to keep in touch with the WestConnex website, but very much, also, all the action pages on Facebook. You type in WestConnex into Google, and there's multiple pages there, action plans and things like that, especially surrounding Rozelle and Balmain, if you want to know more about that.

Marcus: Absolutely. Yeah. As Michelle mentioned, it's really difficult to say where WestConnex is at any given point of time because it does seem to be just a movable feast from week to week. So the website ... And we'll link to that in the show notes for you. The website for WestConnex and those action groups are probably the best way that you can get the most up-to-date information.

Now, living in Balmain and some of the things that you will probably need on a day-to-day basis. Groceries and supermarket, so you do have a Woolworths that's based on Darling Street, and then closer to Rozelle you've also got an IGA X-press. If you're very needy for Coles ... Coles, the closest, too, would be there's one over at Birkenhead Point, so you just have to cross the Iron Cove Bridge. Or, otherwise, there is one in Pyrmont if I'm not mistaken, just near the ... I think there's one right across from the Star.

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Michelle: And Broadway, too, there's one.

Marcus: And Broadway as well, of course. Yeah. So your closest shopping centre, so to speak, would be either Broadway or-

Michelle: Birkenhead.

Marcus: Yeah, Birkenhead Point. Yeah. Cafés, places to eat, there are just so many, especially through Darling Street. We personally enjoy a huge breakfast a Kazbah, and some others of note being Contessa, which is very close by, Bertoni, which is further down Darling Street, and then there's a nice café called Kafeine across the street, again further down that peninsula, closer to the water.

Loads of restaurants, too many to list. Pubs as well. Anecdotally, as we were talking about this episode, Michelle mentioned ... You mentioned that you had read somewhere that it had the most pubs per square meter in the country, which certainly wouldn't surprise me based on the number that I've probably deposited money into over the years.

Michelle: Have you tried them all, you think?

Marcus: I don't know that I've tried them all, but certainly the Cricketers Arms, the London, the Cat & Fiddle.

Michelle: Balmain?

Marcus: Even the Riverview. The Balmain. The Exchange was there for a while.

Michelle: Gosh, yeah.

Marcus: The Riverview, as I was reading through, apparently Dawn Fraser used to be the public in there many years ago back in the '80s.

Michelle: Did she? Oh, I can see her standing behind the counter.

Marcus: Yeah. I can see it as well. I don't know if that's true or not. Maybe one of our listeners had the good fortune to buy a beer from her back in the '80s. But shopping and retail stores, you've got upmarket stores all along Darling Street. If you want sofas in the shape of something absolutely ridiculous, you'll find it alongside your Scandinavian design or toys that sell for absolute ungodly prices and have no real use whatsoever.

Your parks ... I'll say at the same time your dog-friendly parks because they seem to be one and the same with Balmain. You've got Ann Cashman Reserve. You've got Birrung Park. You've got Illoura Reserve. You've got Mort Bay Park, Ewenton Park by the water. And it'll be interesting to see if any of those are

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touched or impacted by WestConnex in any way. I doubt they would because parks in are almost sacred animals.

But it would be interesting to see if WestConnex has any impact, especially on some of those that are right by the water, unless that walkability that I often talk about ... Balmain is even more walkable than Paddington. It's the 14th most walkable suburb in all of Sydney. It gets a score of 93 from walk score. What that really means is the daily errands, you don't need a car. As mentioned, you've got loads of opportunity for fairly flat, steady foot paths and easy walking along the streets.

Michelle: Yep. Now, that brings us to schools in the area. Now, Balmain is really well serviced with schools. You've got the Balmain Public School. You've got Nicholson Street Public, Publican ... Public School, sorry, which is known as Nicho by the locals. It's very famous for its yearly Halloween school fundraiser.

You've got Father John Therry Catholic School on Eaton Street, and you've also got Birchgrove Public and Rozelle Public Schools just on the peninsula also. Then, furthermore, you've got the Inner Sydney Montessori School on Smith Street. Secondary school, you've got Balmain High Secondary College, which also offers 60 selective places.

So a plethora of schools there, unlike ... What was it? Naremburn, where you had to sort of go out of area to find one. So, yeah, great choices there if you've got kids of primary school age.

Marcus: If you're looking for a local sports team to watch, what used to be the Balmain Tigers and is now the West Tigers, they actually have three home grounds. You've got , Campbelltown Stadium, which was originally the home-ground of western suburbs, and then you've got ANZ Stadium as of 2014 as well. So you can certainly enjoy watching West Tigers, and they used to have ... We were just talking about this. They used to have that big leagues club that was on Victoria Road.

Michelle: Yes, that's right.

Marcus: Which is now in less than optimal state from where it was a few years back.

Michelle: Yes, whilst they argue over what to do with it. Are we building massive towers of units and commercial underneath it, or are we going to be using it for WestConnex or whatever? It keeps changing week by week.

Marcus: I'm going to take a guess and say the property developers will win that battle somehow.

Michelle: Well, the Balmain community, I think ... That's one of the nice things about Balmain and Rozelle and Birchgrove, is that it's got a very strong community

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feeling, and the community really bands together to work together to oppose things if they're against it, if they feel it's detrimental to the area. They've had quite a few wins over the past few years, so if they keep working together, who knows what might happen there? Hopefully it'll be for the good of the greater community and not just for the developers' pockets, really. But we'll see what happens. So, yeah, hopefully they'll keep up the good work.

Now, I should mention that some of the information that I used today came from the balmainlodge.com.au website with regards to the history we talked about. If you're interested in further information, there is also the Balmain Walking Tours. We'll put the link on the website. It'll talk about all the different areas of housing and interesting tid-bits of information. That's through the balmainassociation.org.au, who've also published some guides and books on the area and its history. So, yeah, lots to read about.

Marcus: Really interesting. Yeah. If you're listening and you live in the area or you're looking at living in the area, a Walking Tour, that's certainly a new one on me. That certainly sounds like a good afternoon one day.

Michelle: Absolutely. Absolutely. Hopefully it's less windy when you go, unlike today. It's storming out there.

Marcus: That's all from us for this week. We hope you've enjoyed this Suburb Spotlight on Balmain. If you do have any questions for Michelle or myself on Balmain or on any topic you'd like to hear over the weeks ahead, please get in touch via email at [email protected]. That is A-S-K @sydneypropertyinsider.com.au.

We will be with you same time, same place next week. Have a great week, everyone.

Michelle: Till next week.

Please note that any views or opinions presented in this podcast are solely those of the speakers, and do not necessarily represent those of any business. These views and opinions are general in nature, and do not take account of your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. Please consider whether it applies in your circumstances and seek professional advice wherever appropriate.

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