We lived in the "up and coming" suburb 2 moves ago and the amount of crime was atrocious, constant burglaries, i was scared to leave the house. Because these suburbs (usually inner city) take a long time to turn over as they move state housing out etc.

The suburb we're in now is an estate but there are still bargain houses within, they tend to be the simpler plainer ones without the fountain or pool etc so thats what we got.