KandR

We have to make a choice on state sponsorship, either wa or nsw.

Looking at nsw we think we might be a bit priced out of the sort of houses / areas we would ideally like around Sydney.

A poster has suggested we look at the Newcastle area. I am a contractors quantity surveyor and would like any feedback on the amount of construction work / job prospects in the area.

Also I know people must get fed up of these sort of questions but any advice on good suburbs? Looking for a 4 bed house circa $500k, good schools, some shops, plenty of parks and no more than an hour to the beach (not after too much eh!)

If there are any Newcastle expats who can impart some knowledge it would be appreciated.

Cheers

spuddyo

There are some great areas to live in and around Newcastle, the beach is rarely more than 20 minutes away from most areas, in fact Newcastle has some great beaches. For a more rural lifestyle, 30 minutes south of Newcastle is Warners Bay / Speers Point which sits on the North shore of Lake Macquarie and a short drive to the beach also. Check out the local newspaper to get a feel for the area and property prices. Merewether , Cooks Hill and most coastal suberbs to the south of Newcastle are all nice areas. Charlestown, Adamstown and New Lambton are also good areas for families, plenty of nice properties in your price range. Lots of shopping, great hospitals, parks etc.

Newcastle's main industry was Coal mining and exporting, but there are lots of large companies relocating to the area and it's going through a period of growth and re-development. It's 2 hours drive to Sydney, 30 minutes from the lovely Hunter Valley wine region and has a great regional airport if you need to fly to Melbourne / Brisbane etc.

http://www.newcastlepost.com.au/

LINZI

Lake Macquarie is always talked about as a good place to live.
I live in Maitland which is 30 mins from Newcastle only been here a year so cannot comment on many areas but i love Newcastle the beaches are great

Good Luck in what you decide

KandR

Thanks for the feedback Spuddyo and Lindzi, we have been looking at some property sites and the Newcastle local authority website and it looks like the Newcastle area would fit the bill in what we want house / location wise. Just need to do some more research on construction activity, could do with a few schools, hospitals, commercial developments being built!

Jason mears

Seek.com.au, this is a good Website for construction , I'm a construction project manager as think Newcastle and hunter is good for work
I've been to Newcastle before , good place and v good beaches , were looking at lake Macquarie area
Good luck
Jas

man_called_Horse

Lake Macquarie is a great area, a few friends from work live in Wangi Wangi and they both Car Pool to North Ryde everyday. I took my boat up there a few times fantastic boating spot, the Lake is massive and its supposed to have Bull Sharks in it. Didnt stop me from going swimming... class.

brissybee

I can also vouch for these places... so, yes... what Spuddyo said. I particularly like Merewether in town and agree there are some lovely suburbs around Lake Macquarie. There are some dodgier areas near rail lines that I would avoid.

Jason mears

I like merwether , I've been there before when I played rugby in Oz, I liked Newcastle a lot and have good friends there
Were looking at north lake macquarie , but I'm just checking out the construction work there, I don't want to end up doing what I've done in the UK for 20 years which is traveling 3 hours a day
Our final choice for where we settle will be construction workload in the area for at least 2 years , based on research I've done, hunter and Newie is looking positive
Melbourne is ideal for construction management , but the propery price and weather is putting us off
Jas