It wasn’t so long ago that people in metropolitan Melbourne thought of Ringwood as the outer eastern end of town, the country fringe where life ran at a slow pace, and houses were selling cheap, a place where anybody with a job could own a home and put food on the table.
Today Ringwood is a busy place with large shopping precincts, good hospitals and schools, excellent public transport and a healthy population growth. It is the place where Property Developers and Builders from all over Melbourne are rushing to, in order to share the profits of the property boom in Apartment Sales, especially in the area around Eastland Shopping Centre. Five and six storeys buildings are rising with a blink of an eye. Luxury, convenience and comfort sell with a moderate price tag.
Today, people are constantly struggling to find spare time. From early morning till dark they are on the run, running to get to work on time, running to get the kids to school and back home, running to do the shopping, running to night courses and lectures, so that they could obtain qualifications leading to better lifestyle. They eat, they think, they talk on the run.
An interesting trend has emerged lately. People in the late forties and fifties group are selling their suburban homes with the proverbial quarter acre of land and are buying apartments, one to live in, and another for investment, which in ten years’ time will double or triple their values, while in the mean time provide a much-needed income from rental. Young or old, a professional, a business person, a trade person, or a retiree, everyone is chipping into the new trend of living. And why not? It is affordable, for less than $500,000 one gets a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with a car accommodation. It’s practical, no more time spent with the lawn mower and picking up weeds from the garden. Instead, one could start a hobby, read an interesting book, or simply snooze on the couch after work.
