Maroubra, NSW 2035

Maroubra is the largest suburb within Randwick City Council by both area and population — a big, laid-back coastal suburb in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, about 10 km south-east of the CBD in the City of Randwick LGA. At the 2021 census it had 30,722 residents — essentially unchanged from 30,688 in 2016 — with the largest age group 30–39-year-olds and households dominated by couples with children, giving it a settled family profile (53.8% of homes owner-occupied) alongside a 20–29-year-old cohort of about 13% drawn by its bus links toward the eastern-suburbs universities. Life revolves around Maroubra Beach, one of Sydney's most popular beaches — long, spacious and backed by cafes and restaurants along Marine Parade and McKeon Street (sydneyuncovered.com). In 2006 Maroubra Beach became only the second Australian beach (after Bells Beach in Victoria) to be declared a National Surfing Reserve, cementing its surfing culture, and the suburb gained national fame when South Sydney High School in Maroubra served as the primary filming location for the 2022 Netflix reboot of Heartbreak High.

At a Glance

Transport

Public transport is bus-based: Maroubra has no railway station and no light rail stop, with services running mainly along Anzac Parade and Maroubra Road, the suburb's principal roads. The CBD is reached by road via Anzac Parade north through Kensington, Kingsford and Moore Park. The nearest light rail is the L3 Kingsford Line, whose Juniors Kingsford terminus sits just across Maroubra's north-western boundary in adjoining Kingsford; a 1.9 km extension of that line from Juniors Kingsford to Maroubra Junction is among the CBD and South East Light Rail extension options that have been examined, with Randwick City Council supporting it.

Schools

Maroubra Junction Public School — NSW government primary school serving the suburb's commercial heart; Maroubra's town-centre apartments sit in its catchment. Maroubra Bay Public School — NSW government K–6 primary in the south of the suburb near the beach (school website). South Sydney High School — NSW government secondary school in Maroubra whose catchment covers the suburb, and the primary filming location of the 2022 Netflix Heartbreak High reboot. St Mary-St Joseph Catholic Primary School (280 Fitzgerald Avenue) — Sydney Catholic Schools primary in Maroubra (SCECS). Corpus Christi College Maroubra — Catholic college in the suburb (SchoolRank). Other schools in Maroubra include Mount Sinai College and St Aidan's Primary School.

Shopping & Amenities

Maroubra Junction, around the intersection of Anzac Parade and Maroubra Road, is the suburb's main commercial hub, anchored by Pacific Square (737 Anzac Parade) — the area's major shopping centre, a two-level complex of about 58 stores anchored by Coles and Aldi, opened in stages in 2004–07 around a town square wrapped by apartments and offices, and owned by Charter Hall since 2015. Shops and dining also line Maroubra Road and the junction streets, with landmark pubs including the Maroubra Junction Hotel (since 1926), the Glasshouse Hotel (since 1947) and Juniors @ The Junction, the Souths Juniors clubrooms on Anzac Parade and Haig Street (since 2009). At the beach end, McKeon Street and Marine Parade are home to multiple cafes and restaurants, surf shops and the Maroubra Seals Club, and South Maroubra has its own village hub — 'The Village' shopping village with a supermarket and late-night pharmacy, beside the Southend Hotel (formerly the Sands, since 1972). Prince of Wales Hospital runs outpatient and community health services in Maroubra, including the Maroubra Centre supporting people with mental illness, and an NSW Ambulance station sits on Mons Avenue near the beach.

Parks & Outdoors

Maroubra Beach is the suburb's centrepiece — a long, spacious ocean beach that in 2006 became only the second Australian beach to be declared a National Surfing Reserve, and whose beginner-friendly conditions make it a popular place to learn to surf. Mahon Pool, a historic ocean rock pool created in the 1930s, sits at the northern end of Maroubra Beach at the base of Jack Vanny Reserve beneath the coastal cliffs and remains a popular swimming spot. The Coogee to Maroubra Coastal Walkway — a 4.9 km section of Sydney's Eastern Suburbs coastal walk — links Maroubra with Coogee past ocean pools, rock platforms, the South Coogee Wetlands and cliff viewpoints, with optional low-tide shoreline sections, and continues south from Maroubra into the Malabar Headland walk (Coogee Media; sydneyuncovered.com). Magic Point, the rugged heathland headland at Maroubra's south-eastern edge, is well known for seabird watching and is a popular diving site important for the protection of grey nurse sharks. Inland parks include Snape Park (tennis courts and sports fields), Central Park (playground and a children's bicycle track) and Coral Sea Park (sports fields). Green space is plentiful for an eastern-suburbs beach suburb: 23 parks cover nearly 18.2% of Maroubra's roughly 6.0 km².

Property Market

The median house price in Maroubra was around ~$2.7M–$3.3M depending on tracker (2026): Domain's mid-2026 suburb market data quoted a Maroubra median house price of about $3.265M, while Cotality/OnTheHouse's automated median house value was $2,837,769 as at 31 May 2026 (a later 31 Jul 2026 AVM vintage read $2,718,680) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Tracker spreads are wide on houses — Domain's 12-month sold median (~$3.27M) runs well above Cotality/OnTheHouse's AVM ($2.72–2.84M across 2026 vintages) — while unit medians cluster more tightly around $1.07M–$1.14M. Maroubra is a large, actively traded market: 15,960 properties and roughly 530–556 sales in the 12 months to mid-2026. AVM-based 5-year moves vary by vintage (units up ~6.7–17%, houses between -0.6% and +8.7% depending on the AVM recalibration date), so treat short-horizon 'growth' figures cautiously. The 2021 census recorded 30,722 residents and 53.8% owner-occupation, consistent with a settled coastal family suburb rather than a student-dominated one.

New Developments

Pacific Square — Maroubra's landmark renewal: the original Stockland Mall Maroubra (opened 1981 on the site of the former Vocalist Theatre) was demolished from 2003 and replaced by the current Pacific Square, opened in stages in November 2004 and 2007, a mixed-use town-square development of shops, restaurants, apartments and offices above the centre that became one of Sydney's largest and most complex strata schemes. Maroubra Junction Public Domain Masterplan — Randwick City Council is upgrading the town centre around Anzac Parade and Maroubra Road, consulting in 2026 on improvements including a mid-block pedestrian crossing across Anzac Parade, a new bi-directional cycleway along the central median, connections between the central plaza and retailers, and large tree plantings. Proposed light rail extension — a 1.9 km extension of the L3 Kingsford Line from Juniors Kingsford to Maroubra Junction is among the CBD and South East Light Rail extension options examined, and has the support of Randwick City Council. Renewal activity is otherwise concentrated in apartment stock along the Anzac Parade and Maroubra Road corridors, while the beachfront itself remains protected open space and low-rise.

Jobs & Local Economy

Retail and hospitality form the in-suburb employment base: Pacific Square, the Maroubra Junction shops, the South Maroubra village and the Marine Parade cafe and restaurant strip all employ locally. Education is another local employer across the suburb's public and Catholic schools (school websites). Health services add jobs: an NSW Ambulance station operates on Mons Avenue near Maroubra Beach and Prince of Wales Hospital runs outpatient clinics in the suburb. Maroubra's workforce is predominantly professional, and many residents commute by bus to the CBD, to Prince of Wales Hospital and the Randwick health and education precinct, and to UNSW.

Nearby Suburbs

Coogee, Randwick, South Coogee, Malabar, Matraville, Pagewood

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:

• Wikipedia — Maroubra
• Wikipedia — CBD and South East Light Rail
• Wikipedia — Kensington
• NSW Government

Corrections are welcome — if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

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