Alkina Street, Kenmore, QLD 4069

Let me give you the inside scoop from a resident.


This is a quiet street, despite being so close to the shopping centers etc. Big pluses here are that everything is walkable. There are numerous restaurants, a gym, video store, massive pet store and a medical center opposite Alkina street, along Marshall Lane. Wongabel street houses a post office, hairdressers, computer store, more places to eat, coffee shops, newsagent, bakery. Of course the much larger shopping center on the opposite side of moggill road (maybe 300 meters away) has a very wide range of offerings too, including Macdonalds, Nandos etc if you are that way inclined.

At the other end of Alkina street lie acres of parkland and the biggest sports facilities in the area, including floodlights for night activities. It's a great place to walk the dogs (an off leash area is included), stroll by the creek, jog, kick a ball around, join a local footy club, or just to meet other friendly locals.

Alkina street represents the crest of the hill, dropping sharply towards Ijong street in one direction and more gradually towards Moggill Road in the other. This means all the benefits of elevation – views, excellent breezes, etc – notably towards the center of the street, where the most expensive houses are.

Alkina street is largely floodproof due to this elevation. An old waterway used to run along the valley where Ijong street presently is, and cubberla creek runs through the park. This means you can expect flooding at the park end of the street, in those 1 in a 50 year flood surges - like the one that happened in '08. Not an issue for Alkina street residents generally, but if buying near the park it would be worth checking the ’74 levels (which I have not done prior to writing this).

ADSL is provided from the Chapel Hill exchange. We are close enough to get really good speed here (I get about 10,000k down on an ADSL 2+ line). Mobile reception is strong.

Be aware that termites are very active in Kenmore generally, and probably 2 out of 3 houses in this street would have had some issues with them, if the housing stock is from the 60s or 70s. You will need to keep your pest inspections and controls up to scratch – but again, this is an issue that extends through very large sections of Kenmore.

A building inspection would also be called for, as many houses in this street have had garage conversions, rear extensions, and so on in the last 50 years and quality varies.

There is great bird life in and around this street - very large flocks of cockatoos, rosellas, etc. Please consider planting bird-friendly native trees, keeping cats indoors, and being nice to the local bush turkey families.

At night, you can expect to hear some (what I would classify as minor and intermittent) noise from Marshall Lane – depending on how close your house is to it. Marshall Lane may carry increased traffic should the bypass go ahead, but it would also mean that Alkina street would be a hop, skip, and jump away from an arterial leading directly into Toowong (and all the way to Kelvin Grove once the airport linkage tunnel is built in 2015). In other respects, Alkina street should not otherwise be impacted by the bypass at all, as the bypass itself is far enough away to mean that light, noise and so on won’t be an issue here. On balance, it might even become quieter.

Some of the houses in this street are much, much larger than their street profile would suggest.

As at the time of posting, no less than 5 houses in the street are undergoing significant renovation such as complete recladding, large extensions, houses being raised to build under, and so on. A lot of capital is being deployed here. Due to its excellent position, every new sale in the street seems to break existing sale records, with recent asking prices moving through the 600s and 700s and into the mid 800 thousand dollar bracket. Let's see if they achieve it, eh?

Medium term capital growth prospects here are good, as the 'Kenmore East' area remains undervalued compared with Indooroopilly / Chapel Hill / Fig Tree Pocket on one side, and Kenmore Hills / Brookfield on the other. This depends on the broader market, of course.

We rent rooms in our house to university students, and are always overwhelmed with enquiries when a vacancy pops up. I think that this is because we are well connected here, with direct bus connections to both UQ and the city right at the bottom of Alkina street. Rooms here rent for maybe $20 a less than a similar place in St Lucia, Toowong, Milton, Indooroopilly, etc – and that $20 makes a difference to a student renter. For the investor a cost/return calculation will show that the comparative cheapness of housing stock here to the other suburbs listed means rental ROI is much higher. This excludes issues like capital gain, etc, where St Lucia tends to outperform.

The recent development of the 'Kenmore Villas' at the bottom of the street (where townhouses seem to be starting from the low 600k mark as at October 2010), and the redevelopment of the old Sizzlers / KFC site (which for years remained an eyesore) are having trickle-up effects in the overall tenor of the street, and in property prices similarly.

Although I am an experienced property investor and long term resident of the street (with no plans to move elsewhere), these opinions do not constitute advice and you should thoroughly do your own research into any matter raised herein.

Other than that, if you move here – welcome! We’re a friendly bunch. Drop me an email and expect a cake or something on arrival to your new home.

What a fantastic position Alkina Street is. A walk away from everything you would need. I spoke to many of the residents on this street today. Apparently forty years ago this street was fairly well set up with many more established houses than in the streets around it. Whilst door knocking I spoke to a number of young adults renting which would make sense due to such a great location.

Kenmore .... I Call it Home!