I think you can buy a much better quality home (ie period/character home) in Bendigo for a similar price to an ordinary brick veneer home in Hopper's Crossing and with access to better facilities - ie good quality Hospitals, easier CBD access and good train service to Melbourne. Not to mention fresh country air and a less hectic way of life. The infrastructure and road network in the Western suburbs of Melbourne is shocking and doesn't look set to improve in the immediate future.
In terms of facilities, I fail to see the great advantages of Bendigo over Hoppers. I reckon they're pretty much line-ball.
Hospitals: Hoppers has The Mercy whose maternity facilities are extremely high regarded
Schools: Hoppers has the new Suzanne Corey select entry state school that opened only a year or two back.
Shopping: Hoppers has the massive Werribee Plaza and a large trades area. It doesn't have the old buildings or historical main street (though if that floats your boat there is Watton St in Werribee).
Public transport: Hoppers trains run every 20 minutes 7 days/week. Bendigo's are generally hourly, so you're really bound by the timetable. During peak times Hoppers has express trains every 10-12 minutes, whereas Bendigo's waits are several times more. Hoppers clearly superior - there's no contest.
Traffic congestion: Here Bendigo definitely superior. Though if Bendigo keeps growing then congestion there will increase. Though for Hoppers not really an issue if you get a place that you can walk to the station.
Health: The obesity surveys (roughly a proxy for income and maybe how well parents bring up their kids) show that outer suburbs like Hoppers rate poorer than richer areas. But on this criterion regional cities also fare poorly.
Access to coast and country: Hoppers is only 15 min from Altona beach. The fast developing Werribee Marina area is even closer. Torquay is the other way. However Bendigo is nearer to other attractions (Grampians, Murray River, museums, Macedon Ranges) and you don't have to drive through half of Melbourne to get there.
On the objective factors there's not a lot between them. There's no doubt that Bendigo is quite good on all but it's not objectively greatly superior to Hoppers.
The difference must be due to some sociological or non-tangible lifestyle factor.
Eg whether they appeal to a certain quite affluent but backward looking demographic attracted by tiny pretty cottages (even if the toilet's out the back), streetscapes, main streets, books, wine, old buildings, coffee, inner suburbs etc.
Such a demographic may eschew McMansions, bogans, fast-food, drive-in shopping centres, modern (but fully-featured) homes and different cultures that signify Hoppers (or any cheap outer suburb).
Accordingly, if they can't afford Brunswick, Northcote or Yarraville but they want a larger home (to raise their one child) the heritage parts of Bendigo might appeal.
Just as lower-middle class Australian born homebuyers skip over the ethnic enclaves of Noble Park/Dandenong/Doveton in favour of Narre Warren and Cranbourne (or Berwick if they've got more money), there may be a tendency for some middle class to skip further out to the inner parts of the regionals over the likes of Hoppers, Craigieburn or Sydenham.
Monique Wakelin is a reliable barometer of the prejudices of this market, and I suspect that's why she recommends the inner part of Bendigo, Ballarat, etc because the housing styles are (at least superficially) similar to her favoured inner Melbourne.
The 2011 census data, showing trends in average income and commuting (to come out later this year) should show this for certain - we may see the average income of inner Bendigo increase faster than outer Bendigo. That is unless portions of outer Bendigo include hobby farms that some ex-Melbourne migrants also favour (until they realise the maintenance involved is harder work than just patting goats).
If inner Bendigo has a rich suburb's style yet bogan belt yields, then I can understand its attraction, even though some of its services are inferor to Melbourne outer suburbs and it's bitterly cold at this time of year!
