Palm Beach, NSW 2108

Palm Beach sits on a peninsula at the northern tip of the Barrenjoey peninsula, about 41 km north of the Sydney CBD, where Pittwater meets the Tasman Sea — the northernmost beach in the Greater Sydney metropolitan area, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council. It had 1,593 residents at the 2016 census, but it is above all a place of holiday homes and day-trippers: the suburb has been the filming location for the exterior scenes of Summer Bay in the TV soap opera 'Home and Away' since 1988, and its housing ranges from cottages to grand estates owned by some of the country's most affluent people. For 2016–17, ATO tax statistics ranked postcode 2108 (Palm Beach) the wealthiest in Australia, with an average taxable income of about $230,000, and despite the hefty property prices the suburb remains a haven for artists.

At a Glance

Transport

Palm Beach has no railway station — the nearest is Woy Woy on the Central Coast, across Broken Bay. The suburb is the terminus of the bus network at the end of Barrenjoey Road: route 199, operated by Keolis Northern Beaches, runs from Palm Beach (stops near the wharf on Barrenjoey Road) to Manly wharf via Avalon, Newport, Mona Vale, Narrabeen, Collaroy and Dee Why, with services roughly every 10 minutes at peak times. The Palm Beach Ferry (NRMA Marine) runs scheduled services from a wharf in the village centre to Ettalong, Great Mackerel Beach, Currawong Beach, Coasters Retreat and The Basin, providing a commuter link to the Central Coast; Palm Beach and Hawkesbury River Cruises runs services to Patonga. Palm Beach Seaplanes operates seaplane services to Rose Bay, Cottage Point and Berowra Waters from Palm Beach Water Airport at the north end of Governor Phillip Drive.

Schools

There is no school inside Palm Beach itself — the suburb's residents are served by schools in the immediately adjacent suburb of Avalon Beach: Avalon Public School (government primary, K–6), Barrenjoey High School (government high school, 7–12, opened 1968), and Maria Regina Catholic Primary School (K–6); property data confirms Palm Beach homes fall in the Avalon Public School and Barrenjoey High School catchments.

Shopping & Amenities

Palm Beach's village centre is deliberately small: facilities in the suburb include a milk bar, a large RSL club, hairdresser, beautician, preschool and a number of cafes, restaurants and bed-and-breakfast establishments clustered near the beach end of Barrenjoey Road. The Boathouse Palm Beach — a waterfront restaurant occupying the heritage Barrenjoey Boathouse building in Governor Phillip Park on the Pittwater side — is the suburb's best-known dining venue (Broadsheet; Burpple). Sporting and community facilities in-suburb include the Palm Beach Golf Club, Palm Beach Sailing Club, two surf lifesaving clubs, and the Careel Bay Ovals sporting complex with rugby league, soccer and tennis facilities.

Parks & Outdoors

Palm Beach's eponymous 2.3 km surf beach curves between Barrenjoey Head and Little Head, split into North Palm Beach (1.4 km backed by vegetated dunes) and the more sheltered southern section around Kiddies Corner, with an ocean pool (Palm Beach public swimming pool) and paid lifesaver patrols in summer from Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club (founded 1921) and North Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club — the latter painted as 'Summer Bay Surf Club' for Home and Away. Barrenjoey Headland rises over 100 m at the suburb's northern tip and is part of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, crowned by the heritage-listed, still-operational Barrenjoey Lighthouse (built 1881); in 2024 the headland became Australia's first Urban Night Sky Place. Governor Phillip Park, McKay Reserve bushland and the Pittwater foreshore on the peninsula's western side round out the outdoor offering.

Property Market

The median house price in Palm Beach was around ~$4.6M–$5.5M depending on tracker: onthehouse.com.au median house VALUE $4,646,339 as at 31 March 2026; CoreLogic-derived median house PRICE $5,461,365 (down 6.2% over 12 months) per andreamonti.com.au, August 2026 (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Treat every Palm Beach median with caution: sales volumes are very thin and the stock mix is heavily weighted to prestige holiday homes, so medians swing sharply with each sale — trackers ranged from roughly $4.6M (onthehouse median value, Mar 2026) to $5.5M over the same period. The suburb has a large share of holiday and second homes (many dwellings unoccupied much of the year), which distorts both medians and occupancy-style stats. It was Australia's wealthiest postcode by average taxable income (~$230,000) in 2016–17 ATO data, and housing spans original cottages to grand waterfront estates.

New Developments

Development is minimal: Palm Beach is a largely built-out peninsula of holiday homes and older cottages with no significant residential or commercial development pipeline identified in major property reporting — activity centres on renovations and knock-down-rebuilds of existing houses, with planning constrained by heritage items (the Barrenjoey Head Lightstation), national-park land (Barrenjoey Headland) and foreshore controls. Notable non-residential changes include the 2004–05 museum and public amenities built beside the lighthouse and the 2024 declaration of the headland as Australia's first Urban Night Sky Place, which restricts artificial light.

Jobs & Local Economy

Palm Beach's local employment base is its tourism and holiday economy: hospitality and retail jobs in the village's cafes, restaurants, RSL, milk bar and bed-and-breakfasts, plus the ferry, seaplane and cruise operators (Palm Beach Ferry, Palm Beach and Hawkesbury River Cruises, Palm Beach Seaplanes) and the two surf clubs' seasonal operations. Many residents, however, are affluent CBD professionals, retirees or second-home owners rather than local workers — the suburb topped Australia's average taxable income rankings in 2016–17 — and CBD commuters rely on the route 199 bus to Mona Vale/Manly.

Nearby Suburbs

Clareville, Avalon Beach, Whale Beach

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 — Palm Beach
• Transport for NSW

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

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