Hornsby Heights, NSW 2077

Upper North Shore suburb guide — property, transport, schools and lifestyle

Leafy, bush-ringed family suburb high on the Hornsby Plateau, 26 km north-west of the Sydney CBD in Hornsby Shire, often described as part of the Upper North Shore. At the 2021 census it had 6,354 residents, living almost entirely in detached family homes along quiet streets and cul-de-sacs branching off the two main roads, Galston and Somerville Roads, with many streets cut steeply into the valleys near the ridge edges. The suburb is encircled by Berowra Valley Regional Park, kangaroos, wallabies and echidnas are regular garden visitors, and the area's bushfire risk supports its own NSW Rural Fire Service brigade on Galston Road.

At a Glance

Field Details
Region Upper North Shore
Council (LGA) Hornsby Shire
Postcode 2077
Distance to Sydney CBD The suburb lies 26 km north-west of the Sydney CBD. Typical CBD commutes run by bus route 596 to Hornsby station (roughly 10–15 minutes)…
Median house price ~$1.8M (median house sale price, 65 house sales over the 12 months to mid/late 2026, propertyvalue.com.au); corroborated by property.com.au ($1,812,500 median sold) and YIP/CoreLogic ($1,792,500, 8.9% annual growth) (mid-2026)
Median unit price ~$1.15M median unit/townhouse value estimate
Typical rent $943/week (median weekly rent, Q1 2026, NSW Rental Bond Board active-bond data via AreaSearch, 697 active leases…

Transport

Hornsby Heights has no railway station — Hornsby station sits at the suburb's southern edge below the ridge. Local bus route 596, operated by CDC NSW, runs a loop from Hornsby railway station through the suburb via Galston Road, Somerville Road and the Montview Oval area (Montview Parade and McKay Road), connecting residents to the rail network. Galston Road is the suburb's main spine, leading down to Hornsby's shopping and transport hub; the suburb is bounded on its western side by Galston Gorge.

Schools

Hornsby Heights Public School — NSW government primary school in the suburb, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011. Hornsby North Public School — NSW government primary school that sits on the boundary between Hornsby and Hornsby Heights. There is no high school within the suburb; Barker College, an independent Anglican K–12 school, is located on the Pacific Highway in the immediately adjacent suburb of Hornsby, and the nearest government high schools lie in the surrounding Hornsby/Asquith area.

Shopping & Amenities

Hornsby Heights Shopping Centre — a small neighbourhood centre at 110 Galston Road, next door to the Hornsby Heights Baptist Church at 110A Galston Road. Hornsby Heights Sports Club, a licensed community club on Galston Road, and the 1st Hornsby Heights Scout Group are local institutions. St Luke's Anglican Church is at 155 Galston Road, and the NSW Rural Fire Service's Hornsby & Hornsby Heights brigades are based at 143 Galston Road. For major retail, Westfield Hornsby — one of the largest shopping complexes in metropolitan Sydney — sits just below in adjacent Hornsby.

Parks & Outdoors

The suburb is dominated by parks: it is encircled by the Berowra Valley Regional Park, which forms its rugged northern, western and much of its eastern boundaries. In-suburb parks include Rofe Park on Galston Road (with a leash-free dog area), Montview Oval, the small Ulolo park off Galston Road and Leonora Close Park off Somerville Road, plus Crosslands Reserve, a camping and picnic area at the northern end of the suburb. The Galston Gorge to Crosslands section of the Great North Walk runs along Hornsby Heights' western boundary. Note: Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park does not touch Hornsby Heights — Mount Colah and Mount Kuring-gai lie between.

Property Market

The median house price in Hornsby Heights was around ~$1.8M (median house sale price, 65 house sales over the 12 months to mid/late 2026, propertyvalue.com.au); corroborated by property.com.au ($1,812,500 median sold) and YIP/CoreLogic ($1,792,500, 8.9% annual growth) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Sold-price medians cluster tightly around $1.79–1.81M while automated value estimates run lower. Low turnover: property.com.au reported just 1 listing for sale in its most recent month, and propertyvalue.com.au recorded 65 house sales over 12 months with a 2.4% gross yield and ~54 average days on market. Suburb-wide median-rent trackers differ (AreaSearch bonds ~$943/wk vs listing-based ~$800–825/wk) because of small sample sizes. Units/townhouses are a small share of stock. The suburb is a classic established-family, bushland market — prices sit slightly below Hornsby proper (~$1.85M) but well above Sydney norms.

New Developments

Minimal — no notable new residential or commercial developments were identified in current suburb reporting. Hornsby Heights remains an established, low-turnover suburb of detached family homes on steep bushland blocks, and the surrounding Berowra Valley Regional Park boundaries plus difficult topography leave little room for large-scale projects; property.com.au's monthly snapshot recorded only a handful of active listings.

Jobs & Local Economy

Local employment is small-scale — the Galston Road shopping centre, Hornsby Heights Sports Club, the two public schools, churches and the RFS brigade station are the main in-suburb employers. Most working residents commute out: Hornsby directly to the south is the district's major retail and transport hub (including Westfield Hornsby), and CBD jobs are a bus-and-train trip away via route 596 and Hornsby station.

Nearby Suburbs

Berowra Valley bushland (north/west), Mount Colah, Mount Kuring-gai, Hornsby, Asquith, Galston, Dural, Berrilee

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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