Moving to Sydney, NSW

[W8ey]

Hi all
We hope to be moving to Sydney as my husband had a job offer, based in the CBD. We are looking for a leafy suburb with good schools and accessibility to central Sydney and a community vibe.

We have one son who is 9 years old - Year 5. We currently live in South West London, its a nice place with friendly neighbours and local shops and we can walk to the train station to get into central London. Regarding schools it would be equally important for the school to be small ish class sizes and nurturing as it would be academic.

Would love some recommendations on accessible suburbs and schools. We could spend up to $2M AUD on a property.

Thx N

[DancelikeEmmaGoldman]

Sydney house prices are extraordinary, so it might be a case of finding the right house and working it out from there. The north shore is pretty (and pretty expensive). Vauclause, Balmain, Kirribilli are beautiful. The have an affection for Paddington and, in particular, Newtown.

This might help.
www.domain.com.au/news/domain-liveable-sydney-citys-555-suburbs-ranked-279101/


For finding properties, realestate.com.au and domain.com.au are your friend here. Don’t forget to factor in tax on top of any property you buy; it’s not quoted as part of the selling price. stampdutycalc.com.au/nsw/

You can use this to find out a bit about schools.
www.myschool.edu.au

Sydney is an amazingly beautiful city, I hope you enjoy it.

[chatwoo]

I can't advise on schools, but grab a map and follow the train lines... from Milson's Point up to Gordon/Hornsby on the north shore - all areas near the various stations are pretty nice. Some people are snobby about Chatswood, so maybe avoid that one. I like it but definitely not leafy or village feel.

Follow the train line from Town Hall, out to the east.. going through Edgecliff and out to Bondi Junction. Again, pretty nice although I don't know those areas as well.

Look to the West, at Glebe, Balmain, Birchgrove. No train but there's the light trail, ferries and a bus trip is a short hop into the city - traffic willing.

[RumerGodden]

Be aware, some of the nicer areas have very limited public highschools. Some have great ones. Plenty of decent primary schools, but high school is a disaster. private school fees will set you back anywhere up to $40k a year.

Also note, the south east light rail is a disaster waiting to open and has added massive congestion to much of the south east, and large chunks of the train system have been shut for maintenance.

[PRoseLegend]

House prices are ridiculous in most places.
The suggestion to look on the train line maps is a great idea.
I'm familiar with Western Sydney and South Western Sydney, but there are a few leafy suburbs around Parramatta (which is 20 mins by train to the central city).

[miked99]

I'd recommend the Northern Beaches , meets all your criteria as long as you are happy with ferries or buses instead of trains and is great for children.
I used to live in Richmond/Twickenham and it's got a similar 'not really part of the big city' feel but with all the conveniences.

[whywhywhy6]

Parramatta is a lot further than 20 mins from the CBD and the Northern Beaches is also quite far north with difficult public transport.

I’d consider the inner west (Glebe, Balmain, Leichhardt etc) where there are good primary public schools. I’d also look north like Hornsby or just south of Hornsby on the train line as you get a lot more house for your money and it is leafy.

And 9 yrs old is likely to be year 4 in Aus rather than year 5 depending on birth dates. Many people hold their kids back starting school.

Good luck!

[miked99]

The Northern Beaches does not have difficult public transport !
The fast ferries from Manly take less time to get to the City than a train from Chatswood and likewise the B1 takes less time to get from Mona Vale (far end of Northern Beaches) to Wynyard than the train from Hornsby does and they are more frequent too.

[W8ey]

Thanks everyone for the really helpful responses.

Miked99- we actually live near Twickenham! and would love somewhere as convienient re shops and transport. Ferries or buses would be fine as long as my husband could get to the CBD within 45 mins which is his commute now.
Which suburbs in northern beaches do you suggest?

DanceLikeEmmaGold
Thx for the links re suburbs, schools & properties.

Chatwoo- train lines/ maps great help thx

RumerGodden - thx re schools. We would consider state but would def want a good school - perhaps private but depending on the cost 😫 depending if we had any money left will all the other high costs! As my son is an only child I wouldn’t want him travelling miles to a school would like him to have a good close network of friends nearby. So a good school in the same suburb would be Preferable


PRose Legend - thx for your recommendations on other suburbs worth consideration

whywhywhy6
My son will be 10 at the start of June. What are the cut off for the school years? My son is one of the younger ones in his year ( year 5)

I’m liking the sound of the upper north shore and northern beaches areas.
What are the bugs pests and eek spiders like there? I’m pretty freaked out by reading stories. Are there more in the northern beaches
And north shore areas? Or am I over reacting. Can I sit in the garden on the lawn safely.
Are any of those suburbs walkable
Can I walk to shops, cafes and parks

Thx all!
N 😀

[miked99]

Hi OP,
bugs and spiders are a fact of life wherever you are in Australia but you shouldn't worry you'll get blasé about them before you know it and yes you can sit on the lawn safely.

Regarding suburbs in the northern beaches they are all leafy with cafes, shops and parks in walking distance - you are never far from a coffee shop in Sydney. The big decision would be the trade-off between the commuting time and cost of accommodation ,basically the further away from the city you go the longer the commute , but the more you get for your money and schools are generally pretty equivalent.

[miked99]

Forgot to give you suggestions -
At the south end Manly is the hub for shops, transport etc and is fantstic but v.expensve so I'd recommend Fairlight or Balgowlah

A bit further up Dee Why is the hub with a massive shopping centre and bus exchange nearby at Warringah Mall , but Dee Why is mainly units/surfie town so try Freshwater or Curl Curl.

If you go further north again Narrabeen is good as well

but really all of the suburbs have something to recommend them

[DownUdderer]

I used to live in the northern beaches, it’s a wonderful place. The ticks terrified me though.

[KingIrving]

I live in the northern beaches. The problem with Manly and other beach suburbs is the lack of high school. Manly has a selective high school which is not accessible on temporary visas and Balgowlah has a single sex boy school. All other school (st luke, stella maris, st augustins, .....) are private mostly religious, single sex!
Narabeen Sport high school is so full of drugs students and teachers are running away in big numbers.
For us religious or single sex were absolutely out, so we started going inland until we found normal high schools. You can also continue further north and then you will have Avalon or Pittwater High school but the commute will never be 45 min. And on the northern beaches the rule, the longer the commuter the cheaper the price does NOT apply. Avalon and Palm Beach are record crazy high prices.

Nobody mentioned Mosman, which I believe you should look at. Very nice suburb, great high school, not too bad commute, lovely cafe and shops, nice Balmoral beach, the pavillon ....
We discarded Mosman because my husband's work is on the north shore. However I really loved it.

They create a new fast line called the B- Line connecting some of the beaches with the city.
You need to consider that unless you live very near the wharf, a commute from Manly-office in CBD, door to door will be longer. If you are in Queenscliff and walk to the wharf you are talking at least 15-20 mins power speed walk.

[idlevice]

No actual useful advice about suburbs etc but about sitting on the grass, yes as PP said but with a blanket. There can be biting ants & we had wolf spiders in our lawn right under the washing line where I'd been hanging out the washing in my thongs! (That's thongs as in flip-flops!) Also the grass can be scratchy due to the dry conditions.

I always said I'd be on the first plane home if I saw a huntsman in the house. We had them on the windows, balcony & in the pantry room but not in the living areas that I k,now of! But we did have annual bug sprays which I deemed essential for my peace of mind. I had one in the car boot & one dropped on the bonnet once driving along from trees overhead but it was fine. People say don't park under trees for this reason but you can't avoid it as you want the shade. We had red backs in the garden and once on the washing but we still gardened & it was second nature to check the laundry. Lastly, don't cycle through bush at certain times of the year as you might go straight into a massive globe spider web. They are everywhere on plants but quite pretty actually.

As an arachnophobe I was much better about it when I moved back to the UK so I think the exposure does help.

[SnowsInWater]

I live Upper North Shore. Killara/Gordon/Pymble/Turramurra/Wahroonga are on the train line, nice leafy suburbs and good schools. Remember there are a lot of options here for private schools, it is not like the UK where private are all mega expensive. A lot of people go to their local public school for primary then private for High School (but you would need to get your son's name on a waiting list for a Y7 place at the more popular private schools ASAP). What visa will you be on? Some working visas mean you have to pay for state schools and oversubscribed schools can refuse to enrol your child even if you are in catchment. Generally here your catchment school has to take all children in the area. Do be aware though that the majority of private high schools here are single sex, but there are some good exceptions. Sydney is funny, it really is a series of villages - your experience of the city will be very different depending on where you put down roots. I would suggest renting before you buy to give yourself time to look around. We did for a year and it was a good idea; we bought close to where we started, but not exactly the same suburb. I arrived arachnophobic and now just think meh. I get my house sprayed once a year and have had three huntsmen and one funnel web in ten years (and I'm not convinced it really was a funnel web although teenage DS made a big deal of getting rid of it). Personally I wouldn't want a house backing onto bush land because of the fire risk and snakes no matter how pretty it is. If you have any questions I can try and answer them.

[W8ey]

Idlevice- the bug thingy is quite scary. I’d be petrified at night time! Do you get the really venomous ones in the house? 😫


SnowsInWater
Which suburbs in the north shore are bush free? I’m with you on that one. Which suburb did you settle in? Do they have a community feeling- can you walk around easily and are the schools walkable?
The schools sound very similar to where I live in London. The primaries are great but the secondaries are a different story. I would rather a co Ed school but I guess if the boys school is pretty good then I would consider. If the fees are less than London then we would probably consider the private route unless there is an excellent state nearly. We would def rent first. I’m still deliberating on the move. I really like where we live so it’s a tough decision. My main concerns are not feeling isolated, making friends, close neighbours, having a good community, walkable to shops, cafes, good local ( private or state schools which aren’t too pressured and not to close to the bush re scary bugs...
Good commute - no more than 45 mins to CBD.

Kingirving
Mosman looks gorgeous but looks very expensive!!
I like the location very much and the fact the city is so close but not sure you get much house for your money but I guess it’s away from the bush? So less creepy crawlies..

[Paperplain]

We are in Greenwich lower north shore which is lovely. If you're looking at private at Andrews school in the cbd is good - co-ed and good focus on drama and music.

[Canters15]

We moved to Sydney 2 months ago and are in Chiswick, just mins from the ferry terminal. 20 mins into Barangaroo for my husband. Absolutely loving it here, coffee shops and Parks in easy walking distance plus all usual local amenities. $2m would get you a nice 3 bed, maybe 4 bed. Pm if I can help further.

[ispepsiok]

Be aware when you suggest your budget that mortgages are getting harder to come by right now (following the royal commission) and of you need a loan to buy a property you might not find it as easy as in the UK. Obviously if you're a cash buyer then it's not an issue!

We've just moved out of Sydney, but depending what you want there are loads of beautiful areas. For beachy areas I'd say Manly, Fairlight or Balgowlah. I would avoid Chatswood (I'm not snobby as the above poster suggested, I just don't like the area).

If you're not desperate to be on the coast areas like Castle Hill will give you more house for your $$ and the new rail links are making them much more accessible for commuters.

Maybe aim to get here in the summer months before the schools go back (very end of January for public schools) so you have a few weeks to have a good look around the areas and see where you think you might fit.

[KingIrving]

@W8ey Mosman is actually pretty big and of course there are the mansions costing tens of millions but I would dedicate a bit of research on the market. Avoid houses on Military road.

Another suburb worth a look that ticks most of your boxes is Crows Nest. A great community feeling with a centre that spreads on several streets with many cafe, restaurants a square with Saturday Market a couple of times per month. I go there regularly because there are some very big organic supermarkets.
Definitely no bush there. Can't comment on schools as I never investigated the area.
On the south shore, Maroubra and Coogee are really nice. We looked at them while we considered the French High school but discarded them for the commute my husband would have to endure to go to North, so we stayed on the North Shore. But we wanted to stay close to the beach
Another suburb on the South shore very close to the CBD is Paddington. Nice, clean, but not sure about parks. Again more affordable than you might think.

On the northern beaches, life is very sweet for the kids. They move around freely on their bike, go to the beach after school, but if is suburbia with a capital S. Without a car, you are dead, you have just roads going to big houses, there is a strip of shops than a proper centre, gyms, and not much more. In my street, I could lie flat in the middle of the road between 9-3 and not a single car would run me over. So quiet. It used to drive me crazy, after living in buzzing metropoles! Now I have become one of the them. Minus the religious craze.

Making friends might depend on the age of your kids. High school age you get zero chance to meet other parents, so tough luck. The younger, the better.
Everyone is crazy busy. Kids here do zillions of hours of activity, and really we are talking anything from 5 to 25 hours/week, so being able to organise a playdate is sometimes very tricky because some kids have 3 activities or tutoring every day.

[Paperplain]

Ha I wouldn't call Paddington affordable!! But I loved living here - great restaurants and close to the eastern beaches.

[KingIrving]

Well some 3 bedroom houses in Paddington are within the 2 million budget...

[sar302]

Depending on your budget Surrey Hills would tick all your boxes.

[Paperplain]

Really?! I imagine they're tiny compared to what you would get somewhere else for that money! My friend recently bought a 2 bedder there for 1.2m and it's a shoebox and not the best part!! Loved it though and would head back there tomorrow if we could get the same sized house for the same money as Greenwich!!

[Pythonesque]

I was going to say look at Inner West too. I remember an old school friend (actually can't remember whether it was one of mine or my sisters - we were at different schools in different parts of Sydney) commenting a few years ago on how many of our classmates who grew up either in the Eastern Suburbs or North Shore, and could be a little snobby about "west", were discovering that all the suburbs along the train lines in the inner west were really rather convenient and a bit more affordable ...

As to school year - turning 10 in June was the age my sister would have been in year 5, but the youngest in her class. I think there has been a trend towards perhaps April onwards birthdays being more likely to be kept back. Assuming your son is confident and academically able then he would be fine to go into year 6 next January but you would certainly have the option of him going into year 5 at that point. Possibly some private schools might have their own opinions.

(our last trip back, my July born son had just finished year 7, and I remember thinking how weird that if he'd been at school in Sydney he'd have still been in primary)

[chatwoo]

Funny that people are recommending Castle Hill over Chatswood. One is 20 min on the train from CBD (or less to North Sydney) and one is 45 min plus by bus.

OP, you need to visit and see if you prefer snobbery over convenience. Sydney is very much that sort of place (like it or not).