Concord Suburb Review

Big impressive houses on big impressive blocks with big impressive parks equals big - impressive - price tags.

Summary: Dominated by large, impressive houses on big, roomy blocks and with wide and spacious streets to boot, Concord is an immaculately-kept suburb as a whole. The amount of living space on offer here is impressive given its decent proximity to the Sydney CBD, while its central retail and shopping strip is both charming and well-equipped. It’s highly green and family-friendly, too, although its slight disconnect from rail transport (for the time being) is a factor and a lack of high-density apartment options means it’s going to be limited to a select cashed-up demographic as a feasible place to live.

Key stats

Spacious and affluent, Concord is one of the most visually impressive purely residential suburbs in inner Sydney. There simply seems to be an overall attitude towards pride in presentation throughout the suburb, as everything is immaculately groomed, painted, and maintained.

This applies regardless of if the home is an older or newer construction – the often-spectacular modern houses here obviously shine, but the older ones have on the whole been kept in remarkable condition as well.

Clean, wide and peaceful back streets are dominated by large low-density homes that lie on impressively large blocks, with almost every front garden wonderfully kept and striking in some way. Concord is also very green overall, and its greenery comes in a variety of forms.

Two large golf courses, multiple great parks, tree-lined streets and even sections of mangrove forest all provide a diverse botanical landscape that makes Concord’s air and streetscape feel refreshing. This all comes without sacrificing too much distance from civilisation, either.

While Concord does not have a dedicated rail station – both Concord West and Strathfield sit just outside the suburb’s extremities and can be a bit of a hike to get to unless you live on one of the suburb’s perimeters – the Sydney CBD isn’t too massive a journey. Its physical location means that Concord sits on sort of a “crossroads” of Sydney’s overall layout, with both the west and east within striking distance as opposed to leaning too far in one direction.

Concord’s well-serviced by buses in both directions, and has plentiful stops dotted throughout its residential streets. Its infrastructure is only set to continue to expand as well, with the upcoming Metro West set to provide proper rail connectivity that should see commute times of a cool 20 minutes into the city.

For drivers, its proximity to major arterial roads also helps, although they’re prone to the same congestion during peak that hits most of inner Sydney. Noisy and strained Parramatta Road provides city access and a thoroughfare to the west, while Concord Road is the pathway past Homebush and over the Parramatta River to the north shore.

Room to Move

It’s quite remarkable how much living space the suburb offers, particularly compared to some of its neighbouring inner west suburbs not too far away. It’s a suburb of almost entirely low-density freestanding homes with multi-car garages, big gardens and back yards, and streets that provide plenty of spots to park a car on-street for visitors as opposed to the eternal parking-spot-hunt many other suburbs require.

Its park spaces are impressive as well. There’s multiple sporting fields at the likes of Ron Routley, St Lukes and Concord Ovals as well as Rothwell Park, while Edwards (playground equipment) and (especially) Queen Elizabeth Parks (walking tracks, dense trees & more) are additional large and high quality public spaces for pets and kids.

Concord’s main dining & retail area on Majors Bay Road is wonderful

Concord is highly pet-friendly overall, and ranks high on our list for this as far as Sydney suburbs go. Its propensity for big yards, its multiple parks, its vet hospital and pet supplies all combine to make for some truly happy doggies, and the vast majority of its streets are healthily tree-lined and grassed to boot.

Families will likewise be in their element here, and this is the main target demographic who will want to call Concord home. It’s both home to – and fringed by – multiple private and public schools for all ages, as well as several kindergartens and daycare centres. Add in its high level of safety/low crime rate and the aforementioned parks, and you’ve got a great family all-rounder.

“What I like most is the overall family orientated lifestyle. The open spaces for walks and play with the bay being close by,” says Amanda Tasovski, a Concord resident.

“There are so many local choices for excellent eating out. The whole suburb has such a nice community feel and vibe. I also really love how neat and clean the area is.”

Unlike some other purely-residential suburbs, Concord’s also not lacking in quality amenities. Its main retail/dining hub concentrated around the intersection of Wellbank Street and Majors Bay Road is surprisingly well-equipped, both for shopping and dining needs. This is a really charming and communal gathering area that’s again very well-maintained and looked-after.

The suburb’s Italian heritage still shows as there’s a number of quality Italian restaurants and cafes, while major banks and all other essential services can be found here. There’s a Coles for supermarket needs as well, although it’s lacking in department stores or other similar big-box retail. Its back streets elsewhere in the suburb are also sporadically populated with the occasional fish & chip store, boutique or newsagent to keep things interesting as well.

“It’s quite remarkable how much living space the suburb offers, particularly compared to some of its neighbouring inner west suburbs not too far away.”

Concord is obviously very family-oriented and much more for professionals and even retirees than it is partygoers. This is not a “nightlife” suburb, although there are a couple of decent bars/inns to enjoy a drink on the suburb’s extremities.

All of this cavalcade of positive aspects in Concord are obscured by two main factors, both of which are directly related to one another.

The first is its lack of high-density housing options. As mentioned before, much of Concord’s appeal comes from its big houses and living space – there’s a distinct lack of even low-rise apartment blocks here, and this limited supply mostly means it’s house-(or at least townhouse/duplex)-or-bust for those wanting to live here.

That ties directly into the suburb’s high property prices. There’s almost no smaller, pokey/starter-level houses here – it’s go big, or go elsewhere. While that’s all well and good for those with very deep pockets (and it could be argued a main reason why the suburb’s kept so pleasant), it doesn’t change the fact that it makes living here unrealistic for a large portion of the population.

Kudos to those who bought property here back when it was more reasonable, as its desirability along with the upcoming infrastructure projects (not only the Metro but WestConnex as well) means prices have soared.

$1.6 million+ property prices are a baseline for freestanding houses in Concord, with many of the newer constructions far exceeding this as well. $2.5 million pricetags aren’t uncommon, and while you’re getting a lot of house for that figure it’s still a number that’s out of reach for many.

What apartments are available to rent aren’t too bad by Sydney standards at around $500 per week for a 2 bedroom rental; it’s just that their limited supply means choices and availability aren’t as diverse as one may like.

It’s no surprise that those who have homes here tend to clutch to them tightly, as the suburb’s one main downside – connectivity – is soon to be addressed as well.

The Verdict

Classy, clean and surprisingly well-equipped, there’s little not to like about Concord on the surface. It’s got a very pleasant streetscape and public spaces, there’s no plane noise or graffiti to muddle things up, it’s safe, and there’s plenty of room to move.

While driving into and out of the city from here is a bit of a chore, it’s soon to be alleviated by new infrastructure somewhat and it’s still possible to do the extra legwork and hop on heavy rail at Concord West anyway.

Its dining scene bats above its weight compared to the average, bland residential suburb as well, and for families with kids, pets and cash to throw around there’s few better choices outside some of the truly elite suburbs a bit closer to the city.

It’s just a shame that Concord skews a little TOO heavily in the freestanding-home-only department; even just a little more diversity in housing types might help balance it out demographically somewhat.

This also means it’s going to be a definite no-go for younger professionals or couples after their first home, and university students or young workers will almost certainly want to look elsewhere for more entertainment as well.