Purchase Recommendation · Shortlist candidate

22 Gumtree Close

ST ALBANS VIC 3021 · 700m² COURT BLOCK · FIVE BED, FOUR BATH

A rare five bed, four bath family home on a 700m² court block, walking distance to Ginifer Station, shops, schools and Sunshine Hospital. Modern kitchen with walk in pantry, multiple living zones and flexible layout that suits large or multi generational families. Priced at $860 to $880k against a ~$930k estimate, with a standard rental estimate in the mid $600s a week.

$860 to $880k

Asking

~$930k

Estimate

5 bed · 4 bath · 2 car

Config

700m²

Court block

Mid $600s/wk

Rental estimate

Status On shortlist Location St Albans, walk to Ginifer Station

The call

Family scale on a court block, priced under estimate

Gumtree is a different profile again to the rest of the shortlist. Where Walsh trades on scarcity and Sunshine North street appeal, and William trades on dual income, Gumtree trades on space, layout and price to estimate. Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, multiple living zones and a walk in pantry, all sitting on a quiet 700m² court block within walking distance of Ginifer Station.

The $860 to $880k ask sits meaningfully under a ~$930k estimate, which is where the interest starts. A standard rental estimate in the mid $600s a week keeps yield honest for a large family home in the pocket, and the multi generational layout keeps optionality open on how you lease it. Allow a cosmetic program, paint, floor coverings and making good, and potentially one bathroom refresh, before leasing. All figures are estimates pending inspection.

Our position: a shortlist candidate for scale and price to estimate. The play is buying under the estimate, holding a large family home in a walk to station pocket, and keeping multi generational lease optionality on the table.

The property

Five bed, four bath, flexible family layout

At a glance

Configuration5 bed · 4 bath · 2 car

MasterWalk in robe, ensuite

Living zonesFormal lounge + open plan

KitchenModern, island bench, walk in pantry

Land700m², court block

OutdoorEntertaining area, separate shed, pergola

Asking$860,000 to $880,000

Estimate~$930,000

Rental estimateMid $600s/wk

Initial observations (pre-inspection)

Genuinely flexible layout. Five bedrooms and four bathrooms is rare at this price. Suits large households, multi generational living, or a professional share arrangement.
Kitchen presents well. Open plan with a large island bench and a walk in pantry. Expect a cosmetic program across the rest of the house, paint, floor coverings and general making good, and potentially one bathroom refresh, to be confirmed on inspection.
Court setting. Quiet cul de sac position, low through traffic, family friendly.
Walk to Ginifer Station. Rare at this land size in the pocket. Adds tenant demand and long term rentability.
700m² court block. Generous land component in a sought after pocket, keeps future value story on land not just build.

Tap to expand

Why it's on the shortlist

Scale, location and price to estimate

Priced under estimate. $860 to $880k against a ~$930k estimate gives room to structure an offer with meaningful margin from day one.
Walking distance to Ginifer Station. A real amenity lever for rental demand and long term resale.
Five bed, four bath. Rare configuration at this price point. Opens the door to multi generational leases and higher combined household rents.
Light work only. A cosmetic program of paint and floor coverings, and potentially one bathroom refresh, rather than a structural renovation. Allow roughly $20 to $35k to be confirmed on inspection.
700m² court block. Land component holds its own alongside the William block and above Walsh, in a quiet family friendly setting.
Amenity depth. Woolworths and IGA St Albans, Alfrieda Shopping Village, Holy Eucharist, St Albans Meadows Primary and St Albans Secondary, Sunshine Hospital, Victoria University and the Western Ring Road all inside a tight radius.

The trade-offs

What you're not getting

Yield ceiling on a standard family lease. Mid $600s a week on a $860 to $880k buy sits under 4%. Upside is via the estimate to buy gap and via multi generational lease structuring, not headline rent.
St Albans, not Sunshine North. Long term growth profile leans on land, station walkability and scale rather than the Sunshine North street appeal story.
Cosmetic and possible bathroom spend. Not a lease as is buy. Allow a cosmetic program and potentially one bathroom refresh on top of the purchase price, which trims the estimate to buy margin.
Existing footprint is large. Second dwelling optionality is limited compared with William, since the existing house already uses a big share of the block.

Options analysis

Seven room rooming house feasibility

Gumtree already runs at five bed, four bath, so the rooming house path is a shorter journey than Dent or Walsh. Bathrooms are more than covered for seven residents. The one real piece of structural work is removing the diagonal wall between the lounge and dining, which reads awkwardly on the plan and locks up the internal flow — take it out and the ground floor supports a clean seventh room off the reclaimed space.

Room layout

Room	From	Notes
Rooms 1 to 5	Existing five bedrooms	Master keeps ensuite. Ancillary bedrooms already lockable with robes and windows
Room 6	Formal lounge	Framed off after the diagonal wall is removed. New standard door and glazed window
Room 7	Reclaimed dining / study zone	Delivered by the wall removal, then partitioned. Split system added

Bathrooms are covered. Four bathrooms across seven residents lands at better than one per two, which is already ahead of the rooming house amenity minimum. No new wet zone required, which is the biggest cost saver against Dent and Walsh.

Setup cost, one off

Line	Amount	Notes
our builder, plans, permits, compliance and reports	$22,000	End to end Class 1A to 1B conversion, same package as Walsh
Diagonal wall removal + engineered beam	$6,000 to $10,000	Between lounge and dining. Load bearing check, replacement LVL or steel, patch and paint
Furnishing and fit out, 7 rooms	$10,500 to $14,000	Bed, desk, robe, lockable door, per room
Additional split systems, 5 rooms	$6,000 to $7,500	Assume 2 exist. Bedrooms 3 to 5 plus new rooms 6 and 7 fitted with reverse cycle units
Contingency 10%	$4,500 to $5,400	Electrical upgrades, minor plaster and floor make good
Total setup	~$49,000 to $58,900

Income and yield, standard rental vs rooming house

	A · Standard lease	B · Seven room rooming house
Weekly rent, gross	~$650/wk	7 × ~$240/wk = $1,680/wk
Occupancy assumption	Standard vacancy factor	95%
Effective weekly, net of vacancy	~$637/wk	~$1,596/wk
Annual gross	~$33,120	~$82,990
Gross yield on $870k buy	~3.8%	~9.5%
PM, utilities, insurance, council, maintenance	~$6,500/yr	~$23,000/yr
Net operating income	~$26,620/yr	~$59,990/yr
Loan interest @ 6.2%, capitalised setup	~$53,940/yr	~$57,000/yr
Net after interest	~$27,320 short	~$2,990 surplus
Setup, one off (excluded from annual)	Near nil	~$49,000 to $58,900

Rate of $240 per room per week is an average assumption at the lower end of the $240 to $300 vicinity for St Albans rooming stock and is well supported by the walk to Ginifer Station, Sunshine Hospital precinct and Victoria University catchment. Occupancy at 95% mirrors the builder's operating assumption. Setup capitalised into the loan for interest calc, not deducted from annual net.

Read: Gumtree is the cheapest rooming conversion on the shortlist because the bathroom count is already there. The buy is bigger than Dent so the interest bill is heavier, but the seven room income clears it. The diagonal wall removal is the one structural item that turns the ground floor from awkward to productive.

Suburb and location

What supports the rent and the hold in St Albans 3021

Measure	Figure	Why it matters
Nearest train station	Ginifer Station, ~300 m	Closest to a station of anything on the shortlist, walk on walk off
Distance to Melbourne CBD	~15 km	Middle ring, direct Sunbury line services
LGA population, 2025	198,181 (Brimbank)	Established council area, demand driven by household formation rather than land release
Demand drivers	Sunshine Hospital precinct, Victoria University St Albans campus, Ginifer and St Albans stations on the Sunbury line, St Albans and Alfrieda Street retail strips	Hospital, education and transport employment underpin tenant demand year round
Land supply	No greenfield land release in St Albans	New rental supply comes from infill only, which supports existing stock

Supply and fundamentals, St Albans

Measure	St Albans	Why it matters
Stock on market	0.26%	Share of dwellings listed for sale, lower means tighter supply
Inventory	0.77 mo	Months of stock at the current sale rate, under 3 months is a sellers market
Buyer to advertiser ratio	0.16%	Demand pressure against advertised stock
Average hold period	11.45 yrs	How long owners hold, longer means less stock turns over
Renters as share of households	36%	Depth of the local tenant pool
Units as share of dwellings	26%	Lower unit share means more houses and land content
Distance to Melbourne CBD	17 km	Commute and middle versus outer ring positioning
Population	38,042	Size of the local market
Dwellings	16,205	Total dwelling stock in the suburb
Infrastructure spend per resident	$289	Committed public investment flowing into the area

Sources: distances measured straight line from the property to the station and to the Melbourne CBD. Local government area population is ABS Estimated Resident Population 2025 (via economy.id). Suburb level rental vacancy is not published by SQM Research, which reports vacancy by region rather than by postcode, so no suburb vacancy figure is quoted here.

Next steps

How we play it

Confirm and structure. Formal rental appraisal in writing, building and pest, and a comp check on recent five bed sales in the pocket. Then structure an offer that starts under the $860k lower ask and walks up only if the vendor engages.

Rooming feasibility, if in play. our builder to confirm the wall between lounge and dining is load bearing, size the beam, and sign off the seven room layout on fire, egress and amenity standards.

Sit alongside Walsh and William. Gumtree is the scale and price to estimate play. Walsh is the scarcity play, William is the immediate dual income play. All three stay open until the market forces a call.