City's Inner Peace

The Age

Saturday December 13, 2008

Susannah Petty

Quiet Abbotsford is often overlooked, finds Susannah Petty.

ABBOTSFORD is one of those rare inner Melbourne suburbs where some warehouses still function as warehouses and not as stylised apartments.

The tiny suburb, tucked around a bend in the Yarra River, has so far remained somewhat overlooked by developers despite the fact that it sits right on the doorstep of highly sought-after locales such as Richmond and Kew.

As such, Abbotsford, while just 10 minutes from the CBD, has a notably quiet air and a rather humble feel.

"It's like the lesser known part of Richmond," says Jo Bowyer of Hocking Stuart. "But we always find with Abbotsford that people specifically do look (there) because it's still close enough to your lifestyle things but tucked away from the hustle and bustle. It's a peaceful inner suburb."

Although diminutive, Abbotsford is a spot from which to easily access a surprising range of facilities.

Its southern border of Victoria Street is fat with well-known Vietnamese eateries and fresh Asian groceries, while the sizeable Victoria Gardens shopping centre sits just on the edge of Kew.

To the east, on the other side of the river, is the expansive Studley Park, where native birds and flora exist happily among a maze of biking and walking tracks. And, in one quiet corner off Johnston Street, sits the emerging 6.8hectare cultural precinct that once operated as Abbotsford Convent. Painters, writers and instrument makers are moving into the sprawling space that years ago housed homeless women and unwed teenage mothers. The convent hosts a regular farmers' market and the much-loved Collingwood Children's Farm is next door.

Most of Abbotsford's housing stock consists of old terraces, with a few 1970s apartment blocks scattered about. Some warehouses have been converted into apartments, but many continue to be used for light industry, such as panel beating or mechanical works.

Being an area that is yet to rocket in the fashion stakes, Abbotsford has a lot of properties that are still in fairly original condition, which helps keep prices slightly cheaper than in more gentrified Richmond.

"I would say you'd probably be looking at the low two-hundreds for a one-bedroom flat, untouched to a certain extent," says Grant Gifford of Nelson Alexander. "That would be entry level. You would get a car parking spot with that."

The cheapest house rentals start from about $380 a week for a two-bedroom pad, he says. Yet, with the rental squeeze pushing tenants to search for properties further afield, Ms Bowyer says the price gap between Abbotsford and Richmond is shrinking.

"I used to traditionally take 10 per cent off when valuing a property in Abbotsford against one in Richmond, but now not so much," Ms Bowyer says. "Now (Abbotsford) is really coming into its own."