J A N 2 0 2 1 Buyer's Guide Upper North Shore L O V E L I V E S Y D N E Y BUYER'S AGENTS Contents 3 Sydney's Upper North Shore 4 Highlights of the Upper North Shore 5 Restaurants and Shops 6 Education 7 Transport 8 Upper North Shore - Property Pricing and Performance 9 Buying Property on the Upper North Shore SYDNEY'S UPPER NORTH SHORE The Upper North Shore is home to some of Sydney's most sought-after suburbs. With its spacious homes, abundant parks, notable schools and convenient City access, it’s a popular place to call home. Statistically it’s also one of the safest areas in Sydney, making it a popular choice for families. The region is located to the North West of Sydney’s CBD and is perfect for growing families or those that love the outdoors and want to get away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney’s CBD. The Upper North Shore is generally referred to as the area that encompasses the suburbs along the North Shore train line between Roseville (just north of Chatswood) and Wahroonga (just south of Hornsby). To locate the Upper North Shore on a map, simply draw a box with the M1 Motorway or NorthConnex Motorway to the North; Roseville or the A38 Arterial Road to the South; Lane Cove National Park to the West and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park to the East. The suburbs of the Upper North Shore include Roseville 2069, Lindfield 2070, Killara 2071, Gordon 2072, Pymble 2073, Turramurra 2074, Warrawee 2074, St Ives 2075, Wahroonga 2076. The area comprises the Local Government Areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire Council. The Upper North Shore is very popular with families due to the availability of some of the best private and public schools in NSW, a wide selection of amazing national parks, playgrounds and sporting fields, great transport and larger flat blocks of land in quite leafy streets. The region is also surrounded by National Parks and Reserves which provides a great retreat. SYDNEY'S UPPER NORTH SHORE | 3 Highlights of the Upper North Shore Recreation The outdoors is what makes the Upper North Shore so popular and such a great location to live and pursue a healthy lifestyle. There is literally something for everyone – with abundant national parks, bushwalking trails, cycling paths, playgrounds, sporting fields, golf courses and waterways. If you enjoy nature and getting outdoors, then the Upper North Shore has plenty to offer. The area has access to some of the best National Parks and Waterways in the State – including: Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park Lane Cove National Park Bobbin Head Apple Tree Bay Garigal National Park St Ives Showground There is also an extraordinary selection of great parks and playgrounds for families – including: Wahroonga Park Wahroonga Gordon Recreation Ground Bicentennial Park West Pymble Boyds Orchard Park Turramurra Queen Elizabeth Reserve Lindfield Bancroft Park Roseville Turramurra Memorial Park Turramurra Golden Jubilee Field Wahroonga Bannockburn Oval Pymble HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UPPER NORTH SHORE | 04 The Upper North Shore is also home to a number of very popular high quality golf courses including: Avondale Golf Club Pymble Pymble Golf Club St Ives Killara Golf Club Roseville Golf Club Terry Hills Golf and Country Club Gordon Golf Club Restaurants and Shops Significant commercial and retail centres include Chatswood Shopping Centres, Macquarie Park and Hornsby. These shopping centres are major drawcards and feature a wide range of amenities including restaurants, cinemas, gyms and hundreds of great stores. In addition, each of the suburbs along the Upper North Shore also have a great leafy, ‘village’ feel with a wide selection of amazing restaurants, cafes and boutique shops. Of course, Sydney CBD is also only about 30 mins away with all that it also brings. RESTAURANTS AND SHOPS | 05 Education The Upper North Shore is home to many of the most sought-after schools in the State. Most suburbs in the Upper North Shore have excellent Public Preparatory and Senior Schools. Killara High School for example, is regarded as the best performing non-selective government secondary school in NSW for final year (HSC) exams. In addition, the Upper North Shore is an effectively a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for world-class Private School education, with a large number of sought-after independent schools located in the area: Pymble Ladies' College (Girls) - Pymble Abbotsleigh (Girls) - Wahroonga Ravenswood (Girls) - Wahroonga Brigidine College (Girls) – St Ives Knox Grammar School (Boys) - Wahroonga Barker College (Boys/ Girls) – Hornsby Roseville College (Girls) – Roseville Sydney Grammar School Prep (Boys) - St Ives St Leo's Catholic College (Girls/ Boys) – Wahroonga German International School (Girls/ Boys) – Terry Hills Wahroonga Adventist School (Girls/ Boys) – Wahroonga Lorento Normanhurst (Girls/ Boys) – Normanhurst Masada College (Girls/ Boys) – St Ives Additional Public school information can be found at schoolfinder.education.nsw.gov.au, with additional information on Private schools available at bettereducation.com.au or privateschoolsguide.com. In addition, Macquarie University, a world-class University in its own right, is only about 15 minutes away. Also, both Sydney University and the University of NSW are easily accessible by public transport. EDUCATION | 06 Transportation General One of the best features about owning a home on the Upper North Shore is the ease of commuting to most key locations – in particular Sydney CBD, Chatswood, North Sydney, Macquarie Park, Newcastle, Frenchs Forest, Hills District, Central Coast and Sydney's Northern Beaches. Trains The upper north shore is serviced by Sydney Trains T1 North Shore line services. Heading to the City is very easy using the North Shore rail line. Commute time typically ranges between 25 and 35 mins – just long enough to read a few pages of your favourite book or unwind after work. Here is the Train Timetable. Buses The Upper North Shore also has an extensive bus network just in case you are not as close to the train line as you would like. Its services multiples routes with regular running times and its ideal for those who work in the City or surrounding areas. Here is the Bus Timetable. Driving The Upper North Shore is particularly well serviced by an impressive road network that includes easy access to the M1 Pacific Motorway (to Newcastle, Brisbane), NorthConnex (linking the M1 and M2 Motorways), M2/ M7 Motorways (to Western Suburbs, South Coast, Canberra), Mona Vale Rd A3 (to Northern Beaches) and the Pacific Highway which runs right through the middle of the Upper North Shore and provides direct access to Sydney’s CBD. TRANSPORTATION | 07 Upper North Shore Property Pricing and Performance Over the last twelve months property prices on the Upper North Shore have been quite resilient and the region has done better than many parts of Sydney. In fact, despite 2020 seeing many commentators predicting ‘doom and gloom’ for property prices, the year saw several suburb sales records tumble on the Upper North Shore, largely driven by intense demand and a shortage of options for buyers. The emergence of COVID and recent changes to the way we work and live, has resulted in more people broadening their search for homes and prioritising more space for the family as working from home becomes the new normal. This has resulted in strong competition for properties listed for sale on the Upper North Shore. During the 6 months to August last year, median house prices across the Upper North shore increased by about 6%. Auction clearance rates have also been above 80% for much of this period (Source: Realestate.com.au). The median house price across the Upper North Shore is now $2,588,444, with units coming in at $912,111 (refer table below). Despite COVID, over the last five years, house prices across the Upper North Shore have increased by a compound annual growth rate of 4.5%. Some suburbs have done much better than this, with Killara at 7.7% and Wahroonga at 5.6% over this five-year period. It has been a different story for units, although prices have still increased moderately over this five-year period. St Ives has been the standout for Units over this period with compound growth of 6.7% (refer table below). UPPER NORTH SHORE - | 08 PROPERTY PRICING AND PERFORMANCE Upper North Shore – Property Prices by Suburb Source: realestate.com.au/ Love Live Sydney analysis (Jan 2021) Buying Property on the Upper North Shore Finding an Upper North Shore Property You Love The clean and leafy streets, stately homes, national parks, unparalleled quality of schools and easy access to the CBD all contribute to the region providing one of the best qualities of life in Australia. It’s therefore no surprise – particularly in these challenging times - that property on Sydney’s Upper North Shore is in very high demand. As specialist Buyer’s Agents on the Upper North Shore, we help buyers find their perfect home and guide them through the entire buying process – which we have outlined below. Engaging with Real Estate Agents There are currently over 200 Real Estate agents on the Upper North shore and all of them will be very happy to show you the property listings they have, hoping they are a good match what you are looking for. There is also an increasing trend on the Upper North Shore, for Real Estate Agents to sell properties ‘off-market’. This means the Seller and the Agent have agreed to sell the property without any public advertising. In practical terms, this may reduce the advertising costs for Seller, but it means the Buyer needs to work much harder to maintain ongoing contact with every Real Estate Agent in the region - else they run the risk of not even knowing their ideal home may already be on the market for sale.