Hi, new to the site. been offered a job in Perth, just wanting to know where the best areas to live in Perth with a family of 4 children.

Perth is a big place, try doing a search on similar threads and you'll find a wealth of information. It's such a subjective thing, what may be good for your family is not necessarily what suits others. For my family, I'd say within 5 or 6km of the city. Suburbs I'd live in are places such as Como, South Perth, Kensington, Applecross, Cottesloe, Claremont, Subiaco, Nedlands, Wembley, Mt Claremont and the surrounding suburbs. But others prefer down the coast in newer suburbs such as Secret Harbour or newer northern suburbs such as Hillarys. In my opinion, the safest thing would be to get to Perth and rent for a while and get a feel for where you want to live and which schools suits your kids before making the decision for a permanent place to live.

What Kim67 said but I prefer the Northern Suburbs!

what do you do and who is it with and where...this will determine where you live and school etc etc??

yeah i feel with family the northern subarbs are alot better. anywhere around joondalup is nice! we live tapping and its a nice area! how long have you been here? if you are looking for friends up in the area can also arrange a meet up. how old are your kids? i have 3 boys one almost 4, one who is 2 and a newborn!
hope you find info usefull! if you need any info on place just ask!!

The hills are great but we get more than our fair share of wildlife

l think Perth might be the most expensive city in OZ now, so good areras will be expensive.

...and all of those inner suburbs are stunningly expensive. Hillarys isn't cheap either.

You will probably want to find out where the job is before deciding on where to live. If your job is in Joondalup you don't want to be living in Secret Harbour.

Mighty close to it and industry friends say more price hikes ahead.Highly over priced but there you are..folk still pay and also rents are rather high also.

You'd need to be very wealthy to live in any of those suburbs. They're Perth's equivalent of Chelsea in London.

We live in Inglewood/Yokine which we find to be perfect. Only around 10 minutes from the City and 20 mins from the beach. I notice a lot of people on these boards recommend areas such as Joondalup and its surrounds, but I find the area totally and utterly bland. A bit like Milton Keynes really. Plus if you're working in Perth itself, it's one hell of a commute. I'm lucky working in Wanneroo (right next to Joondalup) so I go against the commuting traffic.

You're quite correct. Joondalup is fine for some and not for others. The deciding factor will be where you have come from demographically, i.e. village, town, city, suburb, large housing area etc and this will determin how you feel about a particular area. The further north suburbs such as Joondalup, Currumbine, Kinross, Connolly etc are fairly dense housing areas with plenty of parkland and recreation and are serviced by main shopping centres and close to the coast. But the lack of community space to meet, coffee shops, cafes and such means that unless you are very outgoing, you can have a lonely existence. People tend to keep very much to themselves. This is not a criticism of these areas, it's just fact.
Areas such as Mt Hawthorn, Leederville, Mt Lawley have more of a village street atmosphere and are still quite affordable. Western Perth suburbs as mentioned previously like Subiaco and Claremont are similiar but in a higher price bracket.

Perhaps a better way to ask the question would be to say what sort of place you would like to live in.
Perth is a very pretty diverse city. It has a lot to offer but some will still find it incredibly boring. It's a very regulated and some say 'nanny' place. The government will tell you when you can shop and even when the sun can come up.
So in essence, if you are planning to move here, decide first what you would like and I can guarantee you there will be a suburb here to fit the bill.

Thats an interesting comment I've not heard before. Can I ask why NOR is better for family?

Hi. Not moved over yet, just waiting job offer to be finalised and not sure which suberb it will be in. We don't want to live in a too busy area or the city. We don't want to be too far away from beach but want to live on housing estate away from main roads. Kids are aged 11, 9, 9 and 21 months.

One hell of a commute, I guess depends what you are used to. We live in the suburb to the West of Joondalup. It takes my husband 40 mins on the train door to door to his office in the CBD. I guess if you are used to driving 10 minutes to work it could be described as a hell of a commute.

To the OP. Lots of OK suburbs up around Joondalup which sound like they would fit the bill. Take a look at www.aussiemove.com for a suburb map and profile and then www.realestate.com.au to give you an idea of prices to buy and rent. If the budget allows then some of the suburbs mentioned earlier are lovely and feel a bit more lively but with that I feel comes busier roads. I have a friend in Mount Lawley which is a lovely suburb but the main roads around her house are much busier than near where I live.