Preston Vic

Northern Melbourne · Victoria

What's Preston made of?

Mostly infill townhouses and rebuilds on 450-650m² blocks, sitting on basalt plains clay, with high pressure to knock down and rebuild. City of Darebin.

Who built Preston
Infill townhouses and rebuilds 40%Interwar bungalows 30%Villas and cottages 15%1960s cream brick veneer 15%

The eras, street by street

Infill townhouses and rebuilds

40%
2000s-2020s

Dual occupancies and townhouse rows replacing 1950s-60s veneers under ResCode, plus single-block knockdown rebuilds.

Interwar bungalows

30%
1920s-1940s

Californian bungalows and Spanish Mission in brick or weatherboard, terracotta tiles, wide porches, timber floors on stumps.

Villas and cottages

15%
1850s-1910s

Victorian and Edwardian weatherboards and brick terraces, iron lace, slate or iron roofs, timber floors on stumps, rooms off a hall.

1960s cream brick veneer

15%
1960s

Triple-fronted cream or clinker brick veneer, tiled roof, timber floors on stumps, single carport, a lemon tree out the back.

Typical block
450-650m²
Typical frontage
12-15m
Rebuild pressure
High

Under the floor

Soil

Basalt plains clay

Heavy grey and black clay over basalt across Melbourne's west and north. Highly reactive (Class H to E in places), with rock sometimes close to the surface. Expect waffle-pod or stiffened-raft slabs, and expect the concreter to hit rock.

In the walls

  • Party walls and shared driveways on community or strata titles
  • Small setbacks mean little garden and less solar access
  • Quality varies enormously between developer-builders
  • Neighbourhood character disputes
  • Lead paint
  • Timber stumps at end of life (VIC) or salt damp (SA)
  • Rewiring almost always needed
  • Asbestos in later additions and sheds
What each of these costs to fix

How the streets are changing

Apartments around High Street and the market, townhouses everywhere else. Californian bungalows going fast where no overlay protects them.

The thing locals know

Preston Market redevelopment and the level-crossing removals have repriced the whole suburb in five years.

Time machine

What's changed in Preston since Nan bought

House prices in years of wages, decade by decade, what was standing when, and what her block does now.

Open the timeline

Questions about Preston

Do houses in Preston have asbestos?+

Likely in the older stock. About 45% of Preston was built between the 1920s and 1980s, the peak asbestos period. Eaves, wet-area sheeting, fences and sheds are the usual places. Test before you drill, sand or demolish.

What soil is under Preston?+

Basalt plains clay. Heavy grey and black clay over basalt across Melbourne's west and north. Highly reactive (Class H to E in places), with rock sometimes close to the surface. Expect waffle-pod or stiffened-raft slabs, and expect the concreter to hit rock.

Can I subdivide a block in Preston?+

High subdivision pressure: Two or three homes replacing one on many streets. Original houses are becoming the minority and land value drives everything. Typical blocks are 450-650m². Check the zone, ResCode and any Neighbourhood Character or Heritage overlay for the exact street.

Street-level generalisations from council heritage studies, ABS dwelling-age data, soil classification maps and BuildPilot partner site reports. Every street has exceptions. A soil test, a building inspection and the council's overlay map beat any suburb profile, including this one.

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