Harbourside eastern-suburbs suburb about 7 km east of the Sydney CBD, sitting on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour with views of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge together. It mixes prestige homes on the high side of New South Head Road with a relaxed village feel at the water's edge: the heritage-listed Rose Bay Sea Wall and promenade fringe the harbour, Qantas flying boats operated from Rose Bay from 1938 — making it Sydney's first international airport, now the Rose Bay Water Airport seaplane base — and the ferry wharf, Lyne Park, marina and village shops cluster around the beach end of the bay. Rose Bay is socially diverse and affluent, with a significant Jewish community (29.0% at the 2021 census, population 9,911); its housing stock is more apartment-heavy than its prestige reputation suggests — 68.8% of dwellings were flats at the 2021 census versus 20.6% separate houses and 8.7% semi-detached/terrace homes.
At a Glance
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Region | Eastern Suburbs |
| Council (LGA) | Municipality of Woollahra |
| Postcode | 2029 |
| Distance to Sydney CBD | About 25–35 minutes by bus into the city: the 324/325 services along New South Head Road head via Kings Cross to Circular Quay… |
| Median house price | ~$6.4–6.7M (mid-2026): realestate.com.au lists the Rose Bay median house price over the past year at $6,700,000, while YIP/Cotality data (12 months to May 2026, 58 house sales, 44 days on market) put the house median at $6,350,000 |
| Median unit price | $1,635,000 |
| Typical rent | Median rent ~$2,500/week for houses and ~$990/week for units, with rental yields of 1.68% (houses) and 2.95% (units) |
Transport
No railway station or light rail — Rose Bay is served by buses and ferries. Frequent Transdev John Holland buses run to the centre of Sydney via Kings Cross and out to Watsons Bay along New South Head Road, the suburb's main spine, including the Circular Quay–Watsons Bay route 324/325 services. Rose Bay ferry wharf, in Lyne Park at the north end of New South Head Road, is served by the F9 Watsons Bay ferry service to and from Circular Quay. The nearest stations are Edgecliff and Bondi Junction, several kilometres west across Bellevue Hill.
Schools
Rose Bay Public School — NSW government primary school established 1891. Two independent schools sit within Rose Bay: Kambala (Anglican girls' school, founded 1887, on New South Head Road) and Kincoppal-Rose Bay, School of the Sacred Heart (Catholic girls' day and boarding school, founded 1882, whose sandstone convent overlooks the bay). Rose Bay Secondary College — the partially selective NSW government Years 7–12 high school formed in 2004 from the amalgamation of Vaucluse and Dover Heights high schools — is on its Dover Heights campus, the suburb immediately to the east. The Scots College (independent Presbyterian boys' K–12 school) is nearby in adjacent Bellevue Hill to the west.
Shopping & Amenities
The Rose Bay village centre runs along New South Head Road near the water, anchored by a Woolworths (Metro-format) supermarket at 757 New South Head Road — described by locals and the store's own redevelopment FAQ as part of 'the existing Rose Bay village' — plus cafes, restaurants and small shops along the strip and around the wharf (Cylex; openinghoursau; Woolworths Rose Bay project site). Rose Bay Marina at Lyne Park and the ferry wharf bring marine activity to the village edge, and the beachfront has a children's playground and the Woollahra Sailing Club (100 Roads walk guide; 24 Hours Layover). The suburb also holds two golf courses: Woollahra Golf Club (public 9-hole) and the private Royal Sydney Golf Club (27 holes).
Parks & Outdoors
Rose Bay Beach — a sheltered harbour swimming beach at the north end of New South Head Road — sits within Lyne Park, which runs along the foreshore with the ferry wharf, marina, playground and grassy picnic areas, fronted by the heritage-listed Rose Bay Sea Wall and promenade. The harbour foreshore walk from Rose Bay wharf heads east past Tingira Memorial Park into the Hermitage Foreshore Walk, an easy Sydney Harbour National Park track (starting around Bayview Hill Road or Nielsen Park) with views over Shark Island and Strickland House, and Nielsen Park — with its Shark Beach harbour pool — lies in adjacent Vaucluse, just across the suburb border. Rose Bay also has two golf courses, Woollahra (public 9-hole) and Royal Sydney (private), within the suburb.
Property Market
The median house price in Rose Bay was around ~$6.4–6.7M (mid-2026): realestate.com.au lists the Rose Bay median house price over the past year at $6,700,000, while YIP/Cotality data (12 months to May 2026, 58 house sales, 44 days on market) put the house median at $6,350,000. See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Rose Bay carries a clear harbour premium — mid-2026 house medians cluster around $6.35–6.7M and units around $1.6M. OnTheHouse reports houses up 28.13% in median value over 5 years and units up 9.15%, as at 31 May 2026. Despite the prestige-homes reputation, most dwellings are flats (68.8% at the 2021 census), so the market splits between trophy waterfront and high-side houses and a large apartment stock concentrated near the village and on New South Head Road. Domain's suburb page quoted a lower $3.155M overall median on a sold unit listing — tracker medians diverge sharply by dwelling type and sales window.
New Developments
Development is tightly constrained by harbour foreshore, heritage and Woollahra's low-scale planning controls, so change is incremental rather than large-scale. The main active proposal is the Woolworths Rose Bay redevelopment at 757–765 New South Head Road — a mixed-use plan to rebuild the supermarket with apartments above (up to four storeys, aligned to Council's DCP height limit), scaled back through community consultation since its October 2024 update and still working through the rezoning/DA process (Woolworths Rose Bay project site). Otherwise activity is limited to small infill and renovations around the established village; no major towers or waterfront projects are under way in the suburb (Woolworths Rose Bay project site; Woollahra planning context).
Jobs & Local Economy
Local employment centres on the village retail strip — Woolworths, cafes, restaurants and small shops along New South Head Road — plus marine and tourism activity around Rose Bay Marina and the ferry wharf (Cylex; Woolworths Rose Bay project site). Aviation is a signature local industry: Rose Bay Water Airport, in operation since the 1938 Qantas flying-boat era, is the base for seaplane services operating from the harbour, and Sydney's seaplane operators fly from Rose Bay. The suburb's two golf courses and its independent schools (Kambala, Kincoppal-Rose Bay, Rose Bay Public/Secondary) add service-sector jobs. For most residents, however, the biggest employment draw is the CBD commute — Rose Bay is a classic eastern-suburbs commuter suburb, 7 km from the city by bus or ferry.
Nearby Suburbs
Vaucluse, Bellevue Hill, Double Bay, Point Piper, Dover Heights
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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