Carnegie's apartment scene in focus

This week's focus on Melbourne's hotspots of development leads us to Carnegie which is currently seeing significant public investment through the level crossing removal programme on the Pakenham/Cranbourne lines. Laila Residences is an example of one the modern developments in Carnegie. 

Carnegie sees no less than 28 projects on the Urban.com.au project database ranging from 'Goldilocks' (RGZ) zone-scale development to the much larger scale - the latter especially on sites lying to the north of the railway line.

The 9 level crossing removals that are currently underway between Caulfield and Dandenong see three distinct zones of work:  Noble Park (now complete), Clayton (the section most likely to open next) and Carnegie, Murrumbeena and Hughesdale.

The railway line is being elevated between Caulfield and Oakleigh and with that three new stations are being built to replace existing stations.  The end-game is that there will be no level crossing between the City and Dandenong eventually, paving the way for higher frequency services that will eventually link directly to the Melbourne metro tunnel.

And it's in the context of the Melbourne Metro project and the omnipresent Caulfield campus of Monash University that often draws owner-occupiers and investors into Carnegie. 

Thanks to a permanent express stopping pattern from Caulfield to South Yarra - and one that is likely to be maintained but just diverted to the new ANZAC (née Domain) station and then onto Town Hall (née Flinders Street) through the Melbourne Metro tunnel - trains from Carnegie are timetabled to arrive at Flinders Street 15-16 minutes later when they run direct.

Contrast this with Moonee Ponds which, as the crow flies, is 6-7km from the city versus Carnegie at 12km: the direct train journey to Flinders Street from Moonee Ponds is timetabled for 16-17 minutes.

Dissecting the project pipeline in Carnegie, there are 10 projects under construction, 8 at sales and the remaining 10 projects either approved or currently with Glen Eira council for planning assessment.

With a very strong pipeline where over a third of the projects in the suburb being under construction, points to a great deal of new rental supply likely to come online as projects transition to completion.

For buyers there's plenty of choices - not just with the current number of projects that are actively being marketed but also with the pipeline of projects still to come.

Carnegie is one of the three main enclaves of 'Goldilocks' zone in the City of Glen Eira.  The others are Bentleigh and Elsternwick.

The 'Goldilocks' zone is how we colloquially refer to the Residential Growth Zone.  It's not too cold ('suburban'/under development), not too hot (30 level towers next to suburban backyards), but just right: new buildings that can introduce a mix of uses on the ground floor with up to 3 more residential dwelling levels above.

Check out the full list of Carnegie projects on the database below.