A leafy, hilly family suburb 26 km north-west of the Sydney CBD, straddling the Hills District and the historic 'North Shore of Parramatta' within Greater Western Sydney. North Rocks was farmland — peach and nectarine orchards, poultry farms and piggeries — until it was rezoned around 1958, when housing estates such as Lynwood Estate were built, giving the suburb its distinctive 1960s–70s mid-century housing stock. At the 2021 census it had 9,136 residents with a large Chinese-Australian community (Chinese ancestry 22.3%; 10.8% born in China), and its housing is 78.1% detached houses. It is a quiet, established residential suburb centred on North Rocks Road — home of the North Rocks Shopping Centre and the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children — with the bushland of Hunts Creek and Bidjigal Reserve cutting through its edges.
At a Glance
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Region | Hills District |
| Council (LGA) | City of Parramatta |
| Postcode | 2151 |
| Distance to Sydney CBD | Roughly 25–35 minutes by car to the Sydney CBD via the M2, accessed from Barclay Road in North Rocks. By public transport… |
| Median house price | $1,880,000 (median house price over the past 12 months, realestate.com.au/PropTrack suburb data, retrieved Sep 2026; CoreLogic-based estimates put it near $1.87M in Aug 2026) (mid-2026) |
| Median unit price | $665,000 |
| Typical rent | ~$930/week for houses and ~$710/week for units ; CoreLogic-based median weekly rent was ~$910 (Aug 2026, andreamonti) |
Transport
Bus-based: North Rocks has no railway station. Sydney/CDC bus services link the suburb from Parramatta railway station to Epping railway station through different parts of North Rocks, converging on North Rocks Road. The M2 Hills Motorway runs through the suburb with an interchange at Barclay Road, giving direct motorway access west to Norwest and east toward the CBD. The closest train connections are Epping station (T9 Northern Line) to the north-east and Parramatta station to the south-west, both reached by local bus.
Schools
North Rocks Public School — NSW government primary school on North Rocks Road, which runs an Opportunity Class. Burnside Public School — NSW government primary school. Christ the King Primary School — Catholic systemic primary school near the North Rocks Road shops (andreamonti suburb schools data). Muirfield High School — NSW government Years 7–12 comprehensive co-educational secondary school at Barclay Road in North Rocks (school website). The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children — now the suburb's landmark specialist institution on North Rocks Road, operating a school for children who are deaf or blind and hosting the weekly Sunday North Rocks Markets. The King's School, Parramatta — Sydney's oldest independent school, is in adjacent North Parramatta immediately south of North Rocks.
Shopping & Amenities
North Rocks Shopping Centre on North Rocks Road — built in the 1970s and anchored by Coles and Kmart with around 70 speciality shops; a Westfield operation until 2015, when Challenger bought it for $127 million, and it has since completed a retail redevelopment. A small group of shops sits on the opposite side of the road at North Rocks Road and Lawndale Avenue, and North Rocks Markets — a Rotary-run Sunday 'trash and treasure' market — is held at the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. The suburb has local churches including Christ the King Catholic, North Rocks Anglican and Uniting congregations, plus local softball, soccer and rugby clubs based around Muirfield Golf Club.
Parks & Outdoors
North Rocks is edged by creek and bushland reserves: Hunts Creek Reserve features Balaka Falls, a scenic waterfall, and the Murri-Yanna Track in Bidjigal Reserve is accessible from Whitbread Place. The colloquial 'North Rocks Dam' — a large retarding-basin wall off Rifle Range Road, about 30 m high — is a notable local landmark, and Lake Parramatta Reserve lies just south in adjacent North Parramatta. Muirfield Golf Club, an 18-hole parkland course on Barclay Road, anchors the suburb's sporting and recreation life alongside local softball, soccer and rugby clubs.
Property Market
The median house price in North Rocks was around $1,880,000 (median house price over the past 12 months, realestate.com.au/PropTrack suburb data, retrieved Sep 2026; CoreLogic-based estimates put it near $1.87M in Aug 2026) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. House-median estimates cluster around $1.87–1.95M: realestate.com.au and property.com.au report $1,880,000 (12-month median, houses down ~2.5% year on year), auspropertyinsights records $1,945,000 (early 2026) and andreamonti's CoreLogic-based model puts the Aug 2026 median at $1,872,111 (−2.9% over 12 months) after 7-year annualised growth of ~8.7% and 10-year annualised growth of ~6.3–6.8%. Dwelling stock is 78.1% separate houses, 14.1% flats/apartments and 7.8% semi-detached/townhouses (ABS 2021 via andreamonti), with apartment supply concentrated in blocks along North Rocks and Loyalty Roads (auspropertyinsights). Rents are strong — houses ~$930/week at a 2.6% gross yield and units ~$710/week at 5.5% — with low vacancy (0.57% suburb level) supporting a stable family market.
New Developments
North Rocks Shopping Centre completed a retail redevelopment in 2019 after its 2015 sale by Westfield to Challenger for $127 million, keeping the centre competitive as the suburb's main commercial hub. Residential change is largely infill: apartment and townhouse developments have filled in along the North Rocks Road and Loyalty Road corridors — apartments are ~27% of the market across 328 buildings, including larger blocks at 221 North Rocks Road — while the surrounding streets remain detached housing (auspropertyinsights). New building is modest overall: Parramatta Council SA2 data shows building approvals running below 1% of existing dwellings (18-month approvals vs dwelling stock, ABS via andreamonti).
Jobs & Local Economy
North Rocks residents work mostly in services and the professions: the top local industries of employment are health care & social assistance (14.4%), professional, scientific & technical services (11.4%), education & training (10.8%) and retail trade (9.1%), with financial & insurance services (6.7%) well above the national average (ABS 2021 via andreamonti). Local employers include the North Rocks Shopping Centre retail complex, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children and the schools, while many residents commute to Parramatta — Sydney's second CBD — and to professional hubs along the M2 corridor and in the Sydney CBD. The North Rocks SA2 unemployment rate was 1.6% in September 2025, well below Greater Sydney's 4.2% (AreaSearch).
Nearby Suburbs
Baulkham Hills, West Pennant Hills, Carlingford, Oatlands, North Parramatta, Northmead
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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