Sydney’s cheapest beachside suburbs

If it is your dream to live by the beach but the purse strings won’t budge, check out the cheapest beach suburbs in Sydney where you can score a beach home for first homebuyer prices.

Sydney family Simone, Todd and Georgie loving their Monterey lifestyle. Photographer: Ted Lamb

You can still secure a beachside home in Sydney for less than $600,000, if you know where to look.

‘Cheap beachside home’ is not a phrase you’d expect to hear, particularly as the average Sydney house will now set you back around $1.4m.

Research from PropTrack has revealed the suburbs where you can enjoy living the beach lifestyle for the most affordable price.

The Central Coast has taken out majority of the top spots in Greater Sydney, with a handful of inner Sydney options in the realm, yet those looking for the lowest prices will have to travel up to an hour and a half out of the CBD.

PropTrack economist Paul Ryan said since its boom during Covid, The Central Coast’s prices have begun to rebalance, offering some more affordable beachside options.

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In Monterey you can still get a beachside home for less than $950,000. Photographer: Ted Lamb

“At the start of the pandemic they went up really rapidly, those prices began to overshoot with a huge appetite to get out of the city,” he said.

“After interest rate hikes those prices started to come down and people began to reassess some of the price points that they had hit, now the market is more where it should sit relative to Sydney.”

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Located near stunning Central Coast beaches, Budgewoi situated between two peninsulas was your best bet in securing a cheap beach home, with a median price of $725,000. That was followed by Chain Valley Bay at $804,000 and Noraville near the popular Soldiers Beach, where houses were a median of $880,000.

There were only four suburbs across all of Greater Sydney where you could score a house in a beach suburb under $1m, according to PropTrack.

Apartment prices were friendlier, with homeseekers needing a median price of $580,000 to secure a unit in The Entrance North.

Central Coast prices had stayed relatively still, only inching up 3 per cent over the last year.

Sydney-siders wanting to stay close to the city could look to South Sydney beach suburbs of Brighton-Le-Sands and Monterey from $819,000-$851,000.

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Absolute beachfront home in Old Bar, listed for only $790,000.

Get this view on The Central Coast at The Entrance for only $430,000.

Sydney prices had continued to grow yet at a slower rate through 2024, however unit prices in Sans Souci had dropped by 18 per cent, now with a median unit $943,000.

If you’re set on the laid-back Northern Beaches lifestyle, Dee Why had apartments under $1m at a median of $945,000 after rising 5 per cent over the last 12 months.

Outside of Sydney, Stuarts Point, Karuah and Tarro were the cheapest beachside suburbs with prices between $600,000-$650,000, low enough that first home buyers could take advantage of government benefits.

Little Real Estate’s Nick Scognamiglio said properties in beach suburbs were tightly held so prices were elevated when they did hit the market, making it challenging to find affordable options.

Dee Why apartment for sale.

“People are willing to sacrifice to get into these beach suburbs,” he said. “Particularly younger buyers, they will sacrifice the parking space and make do with on street parking or possibly something that’s rundown and needs a bit of work,” he said.

Commuting from some of the cheaper Central Coast suburbs was another more affordable way for city workers to get into a beach suburb, Mr Scognamiglio said.

“These days with tech savvy jobs, perhaps you only have to go into the office one or two days a week, you’ve still got five or six days in the week to be in your house and enjoy being near the beach,” he added.

Simone Hinds, her husband Todd and their kids Georgie and Harvey purchased their Monterey home in 2012 and have no regrets making the move from the busy eastern suburbs beaches to the more affordable and quieter south.

Simone and Georgie Hinds. Photographer: Ted Lamb

“I’ve lived here almost my whole life, we bought our first property in Coogee a one-bedroom unit, my husband grew up in the Eastern beaches and didn’t want to move here, but turns out he would never move back now,” she said.

Ms Hinds said the family love their beach lifestyle and prefer the quieter beach only a short walk from their home.

“On a hot day we will go down for three swims, we walk and take the dog there every morning and I love that you don’t have to pay to park near the beach.”

FULL LIST:

CHEAPEST BEACH SUBURBS

GREATER SYDNEY (Houses)

Rank	Suburb	Median Sale Price	Median Change Yoy%
1	Budgewoi	$                                725,000	2.0%
2	Chain Valley Bay	$                                804,000	3.4%
3	Noraville	$                                880,000	7.3%
4	Chittaway Bay	$                                966,000	9.1%
5	The Entrance	$                             1,028,000	7.4%
6	Bateau Bay	$                             1,100,000	12.2%
7	Ettalong Beach	$                             1,140,000	7.5%
8	Umina Beach	$                             1,143,000	11.5%
9	Empire Bay	$                             1,250,000	19.2%
10	The Entrance North	$                             1,275,000	-5.6%

Source: PropTrack

GREATER SYDNEY (Units)

Rank	Suburb	Median Sale Price	Median Change Yoy%
1	The Entrance North	$      580,000.00	1%
2	The Entrance	$      685,000.00	7%
3	Bateau Bay	$      792,000.00	20%
4	Brighton-Le-Sands	$      819,000.00	11%
5	Umina Beach	$      825,000.00	3%
6	Booker Bay	$      850,000.00	0%
7	Monterey	$      851,000.00	12%
8	Ettalong Beach	$      888,000.00	-4%
9	Dee Why	$      925,000.00	5%
10	San Souci	$      943,000.00	-19%

Source: PropTrack

REST OF NSW (Houses)

Rank	Suburb	Median Sale Price	Median Change Yoy%
1	Stuarts Point	$         600,000.00	-5%
2	Karuah	$         620,000.00	0%
3	Tarro	$         645,000.00	6%
4	Nambucca Heads	$         659,000.00	-2%
5	Tanilba Bay	$         695,000.00	-3%
6	Mallabula	$         700,000.00	3%
7	Batemans Bay	$         700,000.00	-6%
8	Dalmeny	$         708,000.00	-13%
9	Fennell Bay	$         711,000.00	-7%
10	Old Erowal Bay	$         719,000.00	6%

Source: PropTrack

REST OF NSW (Units)

Rank	Suburb	Median Sale Price	Median Change Yoy%
1	Nambucca Heads	$               416,000	-12.4%
2	Boomerang Beach	$               420,000	-19.2%
3	Eden	$               455,000	-3.2%
4	Bermagui	$               458,000	-39.4%
5	Port Kembla	$               480,000	0.0%
6	Batehaven	$               487,000	4.7%
7	Old Bar	$               500,000	-8.3%
8	Surf Beach	$               514,000	-0.7%
9	South West Rocks	$               515,000	-0.9%
10	Tuncurry	$               525,000	-2.8%

Source: PropTrack

Originally published as Sydney’s cheapest beachside suburbs