Young Professionals

Summary: Boasting a prime waterfront location and home to mostly high-density housing mixed with a handful of stunning waterfront homes and cottages, McMahons Point is expensive but provides a gorgeous blend of views and convenience for those who can afford it. With the city just a stone’s throw away and excellent public transport connectivity – plus a range of dining options within – it’s a lovely peninsula, but limited on space for those with regular budgets. Read Review

Summary: Historic yet dotted with modern elements, while both prestigious and trendy, Randwick in the eastern suburbs makes for one of the most interesting and eclectic suburbs in Sydney. Your average slice of wealthy and uneventful suburbia this is not; Randwick’s prime location and abundance of amenities make it a buzzing spot with a ton to see and do, and for multiple purposes – whether that be dining, shopping, sightseeing, or simply admiring its varied streetscape.

Randwick’s varied range of home styles and sizes are a living representation of the decades of Sydney’s evolution, often sitting side-by-side with one another. Meanwhile its multiple intersection-based hubs of cafes, restaurants & boutiques, sandstone and glass-made buildings and array of significant public spaces means there’s something new to see and do around almost every corner. It’s also increasingly well-connected via public transport services, is a stone’s throw from the beach, and largely safe. It’s also prohibitively expensive for property despite its extensive older high-density housing, has notable parking issues, and can fluctuate between noisy or utterly peaceful depending on which individual street you should live. Read Review

Summary: One of the more interesting suburbs in Sydney, Petersham represents the point where both the charming and gritty/trendy aspects of the Inner West collide. It’s a suburb in which rounding any corner presents something that’s at least intriguing – if not always pretty – from its eclectic mix of architectural styles that are often beautiful, to its several excellent dining and amenity strips, to its occasional back alleys dotted with graffiti and bags of smelly rubbish.

It’s also a suburb which both benefits from, and is a victim of, its highly convenient location relative to Sydney city – one which offers a great commute and easy access to numerous other eclectic suburbs nearby, but also makes it a frequently noisy and busy place to be on multiple levels. It’s overall very well-equipped and a great place to visit to drink and dine, but its high prices, popularity, noise issues and proximity to major roads combine to put a bit of a damper on what is otherwise an extremely character-rich part of Sydney.
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Summary: Conveniently located relative to Sydney city, Rosebery is a fairly compact suburb where the old and new collide, and which has a lot of pretty cool stuff packed in to a relatively small space. Its southern portion is a pleasant mix of older low-level homes, local stores and leafy streets, while its northern slice is an extreme example of rapid, high-density urban development.

While it may be tempting to compare it to other suburbs in similar phases of development, Rosebery has far more character and communal atmosphere than most of these, with some other unique offerings that help it stand out. Its prices, slight rail disconnect and some traffic issues are its only real downsides. Read Review

Summary: Formerly one of the true “wild west” suburbs of inner Sydney, in recent years Redfern has substantially – though not fully – had its face changed by the forces of gentrification. Nowadays it’s basically an extension of neighbouring Surry Hills, with a similar burgeoning cafe and pub culture dotted amongst its array of narrow, street-facing terraces and low-rise apartment blocks.

It’s hard to match for convenience with immediate city access and comprehensive public transport, and is highly walkable/bikeable. Redfern’s also still home to significant slices of public housing, an above-average crime rate, can be noisy and traffic-heavy, and retains a mix of quirky demographics from the high and lower ends of socioeconomic society. Read Review

Summary: One of the most amenity-rich suburbs in all of Sydney, Hurstville is teeming with options for shopping, dining and services. It’s also one of the most mono-cultural, being home to the highest proportion of residents of Chinese descent of any suburb in Australia.

Combine the two, and you’ve got a suburb with a central area with an always-busy and distinct flavour that’s quite a contrast to the rest of its streetscape – which is mostly residential and home to large, freestanding houses or mid-rise apartment blocks. It’s quite safe, has great public transport connectivity, but can feel hectic and a little unkempt in spots, while multiple new constructions continue to make it even busier. Read Review

Summary: If you’re the type who prefers palm trees over gum trees and spends most of your non-work time wearing lycra, then Cronulla may just be the suburb for you. A highly scenic, nature-oriented seaside suburb with multiple top-notch beaches, life in Cronulla is all about being outdoors and active; it’s essentially a waste to live here otherwise.

With a central hub teeming with many newly-added cafes and eateries and a pretty robust nightlife scene, Cronulla also has slices of extremely high-end living with quiet back streets that cost a very pretty penny. Read Review

For a capital city, Sydney cops a fair share of – sometimes unfair – criticism of being a city that’s a little “boring” for young professionals.

While it may …
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Summary: Convenient, well-positioned and incredibly well-equipped with amenities, Rockdale isn’t the prettiest suburb in the world but packs a ton into a relatively small space. It boasts good connectivity to the city and elsewhere by both road and rail, and a wide variety of housing types suitable for a range of budgets and lifestyles. It’s also very busy in sections, with its main roads packed with traffic and a continually growing number of apartments adding to its population. It’s also decent value, considering its location. Read Review

Summary: Largely dominated by the impressive University of Sydney complex offset by clusters of terrace-heavy residential in its west, Camperdown’s an inner city Sydney suburb with quite a lot packed into a physically small area. It’s got several major public services and parks – including one of the flagship public spaces in Sydney – and is fringed by diverse suburbs on all sides that each offer something different within walking distance. It’s pricey, encircled by busy roads and doesn’t offer much in terms of shopping or dining itself, but all of that and more is right on its doorstep. Read Review