Leafy, elevated family suburb of the 'Forest District' — colloquially 'The Forest' — about 20 km north of the Sydney CBD in the Northern Beaches Council area. Frenchs Forest spreads along ridgelines about 156 m above sea level surrounded by native bushland, with the eastern parts taking in distant views of the Pacific Ocean, and is one of the more rain-prone parts of Sydney. At the 2021 census the suburb had 14,267 residents, overwhelmingly family households in detached houses — 92.5% of occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 83.1% owner-occupied — with professional occupations dominant and a median household income of $3,087 a week. It is a suburb in transition: during the 2010s it was rezoned for a new hospital, town centre and relocated high school plus 2,200 new homes and about $500M of road upgrades around Northern Beaches Hospital.
At a Glance
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Beaches |
| Council (LGA) | Northern Beaches Council |
| Postcode | 2086 |
| Distance to Sydney CBD | Frenchs Forest is about 20 km north of the Sydney CBD. A CBD trip by direct bus — the 270/274 city services toward QVB — typically takes… |
| Median house price | ≈$2.5M (CoreLogic sold median via YIP: $2,510,000, 167 house sales in the 12 months to May 2026, +9.13% year-on-year); Cotality AVM via OnTheHouse put the median value at $2,200,180 as at 31 Jul 2026, and Allhomes' median house sale price was $2,120,000 (-1.5% over 12 months) (mid-2026) |
| Median unit price | $1,100,000 ; OnTheHouse's AVM unit median of $1,507,154 (31 Jul 2026) shows how much the thin unit stock swings tracker figures |
| Typical rent | ≈$1,400/week median house rent and ≈$795/week median unit rent ; gross house yield ~2.96% |
Transport
Bus-based public transport — Frenchs Forest has no railway station, light rail or ferry wharf; the nearest rail access is bus to Chatswood railway station to the west. The suburb is a bus interchange on the region's road network: CDC NSW connects Frenchs Forest with Chatswood station and Westfield Warringah Mall, and Keolis Northern Beaches runs a number of bus lines through the area, including the 160X service to Chatswood. Direct city services exist via the 270-family routes — the 270 runs Terrey Hills to City QVB and the 274 runs City QVB to Davidson via Frenchs Forest. The B-Line B1 express does not serve Frenchs Forest — it runs along the Pittwater Road corridor to the east — so city express travel relies on the direct QVB/Wynyard services and connections rather than the B-Line. Main roads are Warringah Road (A38, Roseville–Brookvale), Forest Way (north to Belrose and Terrey Hills) and Wakehurst Parkway (south toward Seaforth and the Spit Bridge).
Schools
Frenchs Forest Public School and Mimosa Public School — NSW government primary schools in the suburb. Davidson High School — co-educational NSW government high school (Years 7–12) on Warragal Road in Frenchs Forest, 2086, with about 871 students enrolled in 2023. The Forest High School — the suburb's other government high school, whose historic campus sat in Frenchs Forest beside Northern Beaches Hospital — relocated to a purpose-built $112M campus at Allambie Road in neighbouring Allambie Heights, opening 2 February 2026 with capacity for about 1,500 students. Wakehurst Public School — NSW government primary school on Glen Street in adjacent Belrose (2085), drawing its students from Belrose, Davidson and Frenchs Forest (official school website; Mapcarta).
Shopping & Amenities
Forestway Shopping Centre, at the intersection of Forest Way and Warringah Road, is the suburb's retail anchor with Woolworths and Aldi supermarkets plus more than 50 speciality stores. Smaller shopping precincts sit on Sorlie Road (with a range of restaurants) and at the Skyline shops on Frenchs Forest Road East — the name recalling the Skyline Drive-In Theatre that operated nearby until the mid-1980s. Northern Beaches Hospital — the region's 488-bed public hospital, which opened in October 2018 — occupies a major precinct on Frenchs Forest Road West in the suburb. A future 'Frenchs Forest Town Centre' — shopping mall, aquatic centre and high-rise residential development — is proposed.
Parks & Outdoors
Frenchs Forest is surrounded by native bushland and lies close to Garigal National Park, sitting on ridgelines with the higher-rainfall, cooler microclimate of The Forest. Manly Dam Reserve is adjacent to the south-east of the suburb, with bushwalking and mountain-bike tracks, and a combination cycle/cycle-pedestrian shared path completed around 1982 runs from the corner of Wakehurst Parkway and Frenchs Forest Road down to Dee Why. Frenchs Forest Showground hosts sports fields with dog off-leash areas and horse events, plus community fixtures such as the annual Forest Funday fair on Anzac Day and Eurofest at Ararat Reserve in mid-September. The suburb is heavily treed — 36 parks covering nearly 19.2% of its 8.4 km².
Property Market
The median house price in Frenchs Forest was around ≈$2.5M (CoreLogic sold median via YIP: $2,510,000, 167 house sales in the 12 months to May 2026, +9.13% year-on-year); Cotality AVM via OnTheHouse put the median value at $2,200,180 as at 31 Jul 2026, and Allhomes' median house sale price was $2,120,000 (-1.5% over 12 months) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. 2025–26 house medians sit roughly between $2.1M and $2.5M depending on method: CoreLogic via YIP recorded a $2,510,000 sold median (+9.13% over 12 months to May 2026, 167 sales, 28 days on market), while Allhomes ($2.12M, -1.5%) and OnTheHouse's AVM ($2,200,180) run lower. Recent settled sales in proplo's Valuer-General records mostly fell between $2.0M and $3.35M — e.g. 5 Wilima Pl $2,025,000, 59 Wearden Rd $2,700,000, 4 Blackbutts Rd $2,960,000, 12 Moonbi Cres $2,775,000 and top-end sales such as 38 Rangers Retreat Rd $3,820,000 and 198 Bantry Bay Rd $3,118,000 (Sep–Dec 2025) — on typical 660–970 m² blocks. Housing is almost entirely freestanding houses (92.5% of dwellings at the 2021 census) in a family, 83% owner-occupied market with the highest household incomes in the Forest District cluster. The 2010s rezoning that delivered Northern Beaches Hospital, the relocated high school and future town centre has kept medium-term growth among the strongest on the Northern Beaches.
New Developments
Northern Beaches Hospital precinct — the 488-bed public hospital (opened October 2018) and its surrounding health and road works formed the centrepiece of the suburb's 2010s rezoning, which also provided for a new town centre, a relocated high school, 2,200 new homes and about $500M of road upgrades around the hospital. Frenchs Forest Town Centre — a proposed shopping mall, aquatic centre and high-rise residential development on the Frenchs Forest Road West precinct; The Age reported in January 2026 that the relocation of The Forest High School from its old campus next to the hospital 'will make way for a controversial town centre'. The Forest High School relocation — the suburb's former high school campus was vacated when the school moved to its new $112M Allambie Heights campus on 2 February 2026, freeing the Frenchs Forest site for the town centre plans.
Jobs & Local Economy
Northern Beaches Hospital on Frenchs Forest Road West is the suburb's anchor employer — the region's 488-bed public hospital that opened in 2018 after the NSW government took over the troubled private operator, bringing major clinical and support employment to Frenchs Forest. Retail and services jobs centre on Forestway Shopping Centre, the Sorlie Road and Skyline shops and the hospital's ancillary precinct. Residents predominantly work in professional occupations, with a 2021 median household income of $3,087 a week — among the highest on the Northern Beaches — reflecting the Forest District's professional and managerial workforce.
Nearby Suburbs
Allambie Heights, Beacon Hill, Forestville, Belrose, Davidson
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.
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