Need help finding a place to live in Melbourne

April 18, 2016 10:48 PM

Asking for a friend who is staying in Melbourne, Australia for the summer - he is a student arriving end of April and leaving end of August. Any help finding a place, or pointing me towards resources that would be useful for this, would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much for your help with my last accommodations-finding question - I'm happy to report that I managed to find a comfortable place. However, I now have a friend in a bind with accommodations in Melbourne. He has searched on airbnb and flat sharing websites with no luck so far. Ideally the accommodations would be close to the children's hospital, or easy to get to by public transit. Are there any student dorms or other medium-term accommodations that we haven't thought to look at? Thanks in advance!

posted by mossicle to Travel & Transportation around Melbourne, Australia (6 answers total)

Have a look on Gumtree. This is the current listing for rooms in Parkville. Also, have a look at the realestate.com.au share listings. He should be able to get something in walking distance to the Childrens or a short tram ride. Plus he's not far from the zoo, woo hoo!
posted by Thella at 11:42 PM on April 18, 2016

There are lots of sublets on the facebook group Fairy Floss Real Estate.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 12:23 AM on April 19, 2016

Finding a place without being here is very hard, Australian share house culture means that his prospective housemates will most likely want to interview him, probably face to face.

Gumtree is the default for finding a place, though there are a few other websites. I'd suggest that he books something short term for when he arrives and then hits Gumtree, noticeboards at his uni if he is studying here and generally tries to get things happening on the ground once he arrives, it will be much easier.
posted by deadwax at 4:55 AM on April 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I know you said he's tried flatshare websites, but just in case, Flatmate Finders was highly recommended to me recently. I hadn't heard of it before but apparently it's supplanting Gumtree. If he has an undergraduate degree, he could stay at the Graduate House at Melbourne Uni. Their cheapest rooms (at AU$360/week) cost about double what a local student would be looking to pay per week for a low-rent sharehouse.
posted by trotzdem_kunst at 5:37 AM on April 19, 2016

If your friend is having trouble finding accommodation close to the hospital (in Parkville), remember trams 55 and 59 stop right outside the hospital, and close by there is tram 57. Consider looking for accommodation in nearby suburbs within walking distance to those transport options (for example, West Brunswick, Moonee Ponds).

The tram 19 line is about 15 minutes walk from the hospital, and it connects with the 59 and 55 trams, which cuts down that walk. The 19 runs all night on Fridays and Saturdays, which might be useful if your friend has to work late shifts. It runs through the popular student/sharehouse location of Brunswick, bordering on to Coburg.

You can find tram timetables at ptv.vic.gov.au.
posted by brushtailedphascogale at 4:51 PM on April 19, 2016

Asking for a friend who is staying in Melbourne, Australia for the summer - he is a student arriving end of April and leaving end of August.

I trust your friend is aware he will actually be staying there for the winter...
posted by HiroProtagonist at 8:53 PM on April 19, 2016