Avalon Beach is a beachside suburb about 28 km north of the Sydney CBD, sitting at the northern end of the Northern Beaches peninsula with Avalon Beach on the east and Pittwater to the west. At the 2021 census it had 10,379 residents, 74.1% born in Australia. The area was long known simply as 'Avalon' — the name Avalon Beach was officially assigned during a 2012 boundary change in the Pittwater region. Northern Beaches Council describes a 'laid-back, village feel' with a 'remote location on a peninsula, flanked by a popular beach on the east and Pittwater on the west'. It is a family-oriented, village-style suburb: the commercial centre sits right behind the beach, separated from the sand only by the road, with surf club, RSL, cafes, shops and a cinema. Culturally, an episode of Baywatch was shot here in the late 1990s and the ABC drama Blue Water High was set and filmed at Avalon Beach — the suburb is not, despite occasional pop-culture write-ups, the setting of Puberty Blues, which belongs to Cronulla in the Sutherland Shire.
At a Glance
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Beaches |
| Council (LGA) | Northern Beaches Council |
| Postcode | 2107 |
| Distance to Sydney CBD | Avalon Beach is 28 km north of the Sydney CBD — about 37 km by road given the peninsula's geography — and the trip into the city takes… |
| Median house price | ~$2.85M median house value (Cotality/OnTheHouse automated valuation, as at 30 June 2026); consistent with the $2.8–3.6M range reported across sales-based trackers (mid-2026) |
| Median unit price | ~$1.07M median unit value ; units make up a small share of stock in this low-rise suburb |
| Typical rent | ~$1,400/week median house rent and ~$750/week median unit rent |
Transport
Avalon Beach has no railway station, light rail or ferry wharf; public transport is bus-based along the Barrenjoey Road corridor, the peninsula's main arterial. Bus route 199 links Mona Vale with Avalon and Palm Beach along Barrenjoey Road, with services running through Avalon village, and city-bound passengers change at the Mona Vale interchange onto the B1 B-Line express to Wynyard.
Schools
Avalon Public School — NSW government primary (K–6) on Old Barrenjoey Road, Avalon Beach 2107 (Avalon Public School, NSW Department of Education). Maria Regina Catholic Primary School — systemic Catholic primary (K–6) at 42 Central Road, Avalon Beach, part of Catholic Schools Broken Bay (Maria Regina CPS). Barrenjoey High School — NSW government co-educational comprehensive secondary (Years 7–12) located in Avalon Beach, the local public high school whose feeder primaries include Avalon Public School.
Shopping & Amenities
The Avalon village shopping strip sits immediately behind the beach and is centred on Old Barrenjoey Road near its junction with Barrenjoey Road, with boutiques, cafes and restaurants along both roads (Masala Cove village guide; Concrete Playground; Sitchu). The commercial centre — which includes a supermarket, shops, offices, cafes and the Avalon Cinemas picture theatre, plus the Avalon RSL and bowling and sailing clubs — is separated from the beach only by the road. Avalon Beach Surf Life Saving Club fronts the beach and patrols it. Northern Beaches Council manages the village as one of its 'local centres' under a place-making program.
Parks & Outdoors
Avalon Beach is the suburb's centrepiece — a surfing beach with distinctive iron-oxide orange sand, a 25-metre saltwater rock pool at its southern end, and patrolled by Avalon Beach Surf Life Saving Club. The Bangalley Headland Bicentennial Walk runs from Whale Beach Road through part of the Careel Headland Reserve down to Marine Parade, and St Michaels Cave is a nearby coastal feature. Avalon also has a small nine-hole golf course and strong local sports clubs including Avalon Soccer Club (est. 1982, more than 80 teams) and Avalon Junior Rugby League Club.
Property Market
The median house price in Avalon Beach was around ~$2.85M median house value (Cotality/OnTheHouse automated valuation, as at 30 June 2026); consistent with the $2.8–3.6M range reported across sales-based trackers (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. House values fell about 3.6% over the five years to 30 June 2026 on the OnTheHouse/Cotality measure, with units down ~15.6% — a cooler market than Sydney's inner east, reflecting the suburb's distance from the city. The suburb has roughly 4,600 properties and about 196 sales in the 12 months to mid-2026. Median estimates vary by tracker and window — Cotality's AVM sat at ~$2.85M (earlier cached figures ~$2.99M), while sales-based REA/Domain medians have ranged from the high $2Ms to the mid $3Ms depending on the mix of prestige waterfront sales in the period; treat single-tracker figures as indicative given thin quarterly volumes for a suburb of this size.
New Developments
Development is deliberately low-key: Avalon's housing is predominantly low-rise and infill is minimal, with the beachfront commercial village and the Avalon village precinct managed by Northern Beaches Council as a 'local centre' with a village-feel planning emphasis. A major surf club rebuild at Avalon Beach went ahead in the early 2010s after a Land and Environment Court challenge from residents ; no significant residential tower or master-planned developments were identified in the suburb.
Jobs & Local Economy
Local employment is anchored in the Avalon village retail and hospitality strip — supermarket, boutiques, cafes, restaurants, RSL and the cinema — plus tourism and surf/small-business activity around the beach. As a residential beachside suburb on the peninsula's northern end, many employed residents commute south to Mona Vale, Manly and the Sydney CBD along the Barrenjoey Road corridor.
Nearby Suburbs
Newport, Bilgola, Clareville, Whale Beach, Palm Beach, Careel Bay
Sources & method
Researched 4 September 2026 from named public sources — census and government records, transport authorities, council and planning documents — plus published sales data. Where sources disagree on a figure, the guide says so rather than picking one.
Sources cited in this guide:
Corrections are welcome — if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
Back to all Sydney suburb guides.