Leafy, established family suburb on Sydney's lower North Shore, occupying a peninsula at the opening of the Lane Cove River on Port Jackson, nine kilometres north-west of the Sydney CBD and the administrative centre of Lane Cove Council. At the 2021 census it had about 12,363 residents, with an apartment-heavy housing mix — 62.4% of dwellings were flats or apartments, 30.3% separate houses and 7.0% semi-detached. Locals prize the 'village green' feel: a walkable village centre around Longueville Road and Burns Bay Road, the award-winning The Canopy shopping, dining and park precinct, river bushland on the doorstep and sought-after schools, with agents noting strong demand from families moving from Sydney's east.
At a Glance
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Region | North Shore |
| Council (LGA) | Lane Cove Council |
| Postcode | 2066 |
| Distance to Sydney CBD | Roughly 20–35 minutes by bus depending on the service: the interchange on Epping Road hosts express M2 services to Wynyard (the quickest… |
| Median house price | ~$3.2M — realestate.com.au put the median house price over the 12 months to late 2026 at $3,200,000 (with 2-bed houses at $3,110,000, 3-bed at $2,885,000 and 4-bed at $3,100,000), and yourinvestmentpropertymag reported a house median of $3,215,000 across 59 sales in the same period (mid-2026) |
| Median unit price | $860,000 ; by configuration the medians were $777,500 for 1-bed, $960,000 for 2-bed and $1,660,000 for 3-bed units |
| Typical rent | Houses rent for about $1,250/week (2.3% gross rental yield) and units about $750/week (4.1% yield), per realestate.com.au Lane Cove suburb… |
| Price growth | Annual compound growth of 2.3% for houses and 6.0% for units… |
Transport
Lane Cove has no railway station — public transport is bus-based. Route 254 largely follows the old tram route from Longueville Road to Wynyard via Crows Nest and North Sydney, and a major bus interchange at the intersection of Epping Road and Longueville Road (opened March 2008 as part of the Lane Cove Tunnel works) operates around 25 bus routes including school services. The Lane Cove Tunnel takes traffic straight from the Gore Hill Expressway to the M2, easing through-traffic out of the village streets, and Epping Road bus lanes speed commuter services.
Schools
Lane Cove Public School — NSW government primary established in 1876, educating around 800 students. Lane Cove West Public School — NSW government primary serving the western part of the peninsula (NSW Department of Education). St Michael's Catholic Primary School — Catholic systemic primary in the village. Lane Cove has no public high school within the suburb; secondary students travel to nearby government and independent schools, including St Ignatius' College Riverview, the Jesuit boys' day and boarding school (est. 1880, Years 5–12) in the neighbouring suburb of Riverview, and Marist College Eastwood, the Catholic boys' secondary in Eastwood.
Shopping & Amenities
The village centre has a pedestrian plaza at the eastern end of Burns Bay Road where it meets Longueville Road, with shops, supermarkets and the weekly local retail scene around it. The Canopy — the redeveloped village shopping precinct fronting Longueville Road — is an award-winning shopping, dining and park complex with supermarkets, restaurants, a playground and community space, now the suburb's retail heart. Cafes and eateries line Longueville Road — from Pottery Green Bakers to new restaurants — and the Lane Cove Aquatic Leisure Centre (50-metre and 25-metre pools, gym) is the main recreation facility. The suburb is also home to Lane Cove Council's civic centre and library.
Parks & Outdoors
Around 16% of Lane Cove is public recreational open space, including Tambourine Bay Park, Blackman Park, Burns Bay Park, Pottery Green and Tantallon Oval, with extensive bushland along the river's edge. Lane Cove National Park — the river valley parkland stretching north along the Lane Cove River — is close by, and Woodford Bay and Tambourine Bay offer harbour-adjacent foreshore. A cycleway runs along the southern edge of Epping Road from the Pacific Highway to the Lane Cove River.
Property Market
The median house price in Lane Cove was around ~$3.2M — realestate.com.au put the median house price over the 12 months to late 2026 at $3,200,000 (with 2-bed houses at $3,110,000, 3-bed at $2,885,000 and 4-bed at $3,100,000), and yourinvestmentpropertymag reported a house median of $3,215,000 across 59 sales in the same period (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Lane Cove commands a genuine family premium for its village lifestyle, river bushland and school catchment — one of Sydney's priciest non-waterfront family markets, with house medians around $3.0–3.2M and an apartment-dominated stock profile (62.4% flats/units at the 2021 census) keeping entry prices for units far lower. The Domain House Price Report flagged the Chatswood–Lane Cove area among SA3s where medians fell by up to $353,000 in the three months to June 2026, so buyers in the current market have more negotiating room than in the boom years.
New Developments
The Canopy — the redevelopment of the old Lane Cove shopping centre into a mixed retail, dining and park precinct — is the village's biggest recent project, with surrounding apartment growth near the town centre continuing under Lane Cove Council's town-centre planning framework. A major $88 million project was planned for the St Andrew's church site (DA152/2024, lodged with Lane Cove Council in February 2025) to create a residential, community and worship precinct, with the Sydney North Planning Panel to assess it (Urban Digest). Council-led planning continues to shape smaller apartment and mixed-use development around the village while protecting its low-rise residential streets (Lane Cove Council; Urban Digest).
Jobs & Local Economy
Lane Cove is a largely residential suburb whose local employment centres on retail and hospitality (The Canopy and the Longueville Road village strip), Lane Cove Council's civic administration, and professional services — including the Australian headquarters of software company SAS Institute in Lane Cove and BlueScope's marketing branch in Lane Cove West. Most working residents commute to the Sydney CBD or to the Macquarie Park business park four kilometres away, which also hosts Macquarie University and a large tech and corporate workforce.
Nearby Suburbs
Longueville, Riverview, Greenwich, Linley Point, Northwood
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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