Bexley Suburb Review

Summary: Quiet, conveniently located and heavily residential, Bexley is a bit of a sleeper suburb that’s not often talked about, yet offers a surprising dose of quite upmarket living for a pretty good price by present-day Sydney standards.

Given its position relative to the Sydney CBD and its overall balance of safety, amenities and home sizes, Bexley is probably still slightly undervalued overall and – while it’s still not “cheap”, being Sydney – is worth considering as a mildly-cheaper alternative to other more ‘brand-name’ neighbouring suburbs not that far away.

Solid public transport connectivity and a generally well-maintained & kept streetscape given its city proximity also round things out to make for a pretty solid all-rounder given its location.

Key stats

One of a small handful of suburbs in a pocket of Sydney that mostly flies under the radar for those looking to live still-reasonably-close to the centre of the city, Bexley may not be one of the most talked about suburbs out there, yet is still bigger than you’d think in terms of both size & total population.

This cluster that’s not-quite fully Inner West, St. George or Bayside, although it’s officially under the Bayside Council (basically the stretch from Turella down to Allawah and including Clemton Park) has escaped some of the excessive price-gouging of suburbs just a matter of a few minutes drive away.

While historically a lot of that was owed to the factor of flight paths and aircraft noise, this has alleviated in recent times, particularly in Bexley itself. As a result, Bexley’s location still gives it a convenient proximity to the airport – around a 15 minute drive away – without as much of the built-in detriment.

Location in general is the first obvious strong point in Bexley’s favour. It lies in a balanced spot in which not too many of the core essentials of Sydney life are very far away.

This in turn helps make up for what Bexley might lack internally while having much of it right nearby. For example, while it doesn’t have its own train station, it is surrounded by several in close proximity; it lacks a major shopping centre, but both Hurstville and Rockdale are right next door; even the beach is only around a 10 minute drive away.

Sydney city itself is around a 25-minute drive from Bexley in those rare occasions where there’s no traffic, but commutes up Forest Road and onto the highway are typically densely packed with congestion.

Realistically, 35 minutes or so is a viable trip to work in the CBD, both by car and rail; this factors in time actually getting to a nearby train station if taking the train. Given Bexley’s fairly large size – particularly if you live in the central part of the suburb – it can be a bit of a hike to get to the likes of Kogarah/Rockdale/Bexley North stations.

Checking all Boxes

Bexley’s streetscape is one of the nicer in this slice of semi-southern Sydney overall. It’s largely clean and better-kept than some of the suburbs nearby; in many ways, Bexley feels a lot like the classier and more upmarket brother of Arncliffe.

It’s heavily residential throughout, with most of its non-housing clustered along the long stretch of Forest Road which splits the suburb in two.

Forest Road is a busy thoroughfare which has two main focal points.

The south-west towards Hurstville is mostly service and supply-type businesses – think auto repairs, hardware manufacturers, tyre shops and the like with the occasional fast-food joint thrown in – while on the north-eastern side you’ll find its “Town Centre”.

This is where most Bexley’s pretty decent array of dining and amenities is concentrated, and it’s quite well-equipped.

There’s no large-scale retail to be found, but it’s got a good mix of small-scale services and stores such as medical, dental, bakeries, newsagents and the like. There’s an IGA for grocery needs, and quite a nice blend of local dining options too.

It’s not the cafe-heavy leanings as dense as the Inner West, but its mix of demographics means there’s plenty of cool little restaurants to try covering a range of cuisines – Lebanese, Italian, Filipino and various other.

If you’re after anything more big-box retail-oriented however, you’ll have to head to neighbouring suburbs as Bexley is otherwise lacking in this regard.

There’s not a whole lot that goes on here after sundown, however.

If you’re looking for action, about the peak Bexley has to offer is the Forest Inn Hotel (a great little pub with well-priced food and the odd spot of karaoke), or playing a round at the Bexley Golf Club (a quaint club with a challenging course in good condition).

In all, there’s certainly pretty much all the essentials you need self-contained within the suburb.

However there’s just not a lot of non-essential “entertainment” options that would otherwise draw anyone into really wanting to visit here or to keep yourself occupied as a local. It’s also a little lacking in kid-centric entertainment options for families on the whole too outside of its decent array of parks & their associated playground equipment.

Bexley’s back streets are largely quiet, clean, and unassuming. It’s got a decent mix of housing types, with more larger homes and wide-based low-rise apartment blocks as opposed to your typical Inner West terrace-heavy streetscape.

There’s some lovely sandstone brick constructions built into the hillside, and many parts of Bexley are elevated with associated views as it’s quite hilly in places.

The suburb’s also greener than you’d think. Its lack of highrise construction gives it an open and unobscured feel, and many of its streets overhang with tree cover providing a pretty good slice of nature.

There’s several parks dotted throughout Bexley, some great and some not-so-great. A couple are basically overgrown and slightly neglected blocks of land in-between houses, but there are a some great, roomy green spaces as well.

Evatt Park is a nice, expansive flat green space with a walking path through and play equipment, yet it’s Bexley Park(seems appropriate) that steals the show.

This is an excellent place for kids with a great mix of playground equipment including a flying fox and track for scooters, while it’s well-equipped with sporting amenities as well.

Cricket pitches and proper sports grounds along with barbecue facilities and plenty of shade make it a great all-rounder park for all of adults, kids, and pets.

It’s well-kept, too, and doesn’t suffer from some of the neglect other parks in this area can suffer from – perhaps its only downside is the road noise from busy Stoney Creek Road nearby.

For families, Bexley has quite a lot to offer. It’s home to multiple generalist schools, sure, but there’s also other specialist amenities such as tech schools and a mix of private and religious options as well as a good selection of daycare services.

It’s not only well-serviced for families but also the elderly as well, with several aged care centres dotted throughout.

It’s largely a safe and uneventful suburb, too, both statistically and in reality. Crime-wise it’s had some minor issues with car theft in the past, but otherwise it’s a highly peaceful and safe place to both live in and walk around.

This couples with an extremely low per-capita crime ranking that puts it firmly among the safest “tier” of suburbs in Sydney.

Bexley’s fairly detached-house-heavy (over half of the suburb is still comprised of detached houses despite its otherwise relatively built-up nature) and its freestanding homes are generally quite large overall.

There’s a smattering of small complexes of both old and new townhouses and the occasional duplex, but much of it is big freestanding homes or red brick older low-rise apartment buildings limited to only a handful of individual apartments.

Bexley consists of about a 25:20% split between semi’s and apartments; combine it all together and you’ve got a decently varied housing profile to choose from for those who don’t mind something a little more dense living-wise.

Its home to quite a lot of homes that border on “mansion” territory, too, with big, impressive columns on its more historic older/established houses and double-story newer constructions plopped in between.

There’s quite a lot of money here as a whole, with buyers able to get a bit more for their dollar, and with double garages still being a fairly common occurrence.

Price-wise, Bexley is probably mildly undervalued overall given its solid quality of life on offer, and represents a good opportunity both for living and investment alike, given its relatively central location.

Many people probably glance at the suburb on the map, see that it’s got no train station, and dismiss it accordingly due to commute factors; their loss, as you can potentially save yourself a couple of hundred thousand dollars by buying a home here as opposed to other suburbs a mere 10 minutes up the road.

Smaller, older freestanding homes at the $1.6 million (or even slightly under) mark are still a possibility here, which is still slightly below the median for greater Sydney, in a suburb with above-median quality of life. You’ll need to temper your expectations in terms of overall home size & age when fishing in this price range though.

This is because the suburb’s gradually being filled up with newer, bigger homes via increasing knockdown/rebuild action that add an additional several hundred thousand dollars to the pricetag, and are continuing to drag up the suburb’s price averages accordingly.

“Price-wise, Bexley is probably undervalued overall and represents a good opportunity both for living and investment alike.”

Bexley also represents a particularly good-value spot for apartment buyers who don’t need too much space – 2 bedders for the mid-to-high $700k mark still exist, with many of them being more-established low-rise builds on decent slices of land, and without being too dodgy build-quality-wise as well.

Rental wise it’s likewise a pretty good deal, with $600 a week able to snag you something decent.

Again, that’s below the current Sydney median rental price, and thus pretty “good” by current Sydney standards in a suburb that’s safe and lacking any other real significant negative aspects.

The Verdict

With no major downsides other than some traffic issues and something of a a lack of bigger-scale amenities, Bexley ticks all the criteria for being labelled a “sleeper” Sydney suburb, both to rent and to buy.

It’s not teeming with major attractions or nightlife, and is “pretty” rather than “gorgeous”, but for the pricetag and location that’s still pretty damn good.

The suburb has a good balance of demographics, connectivity and centralised position, and while the driving situation isn’t amazing and distance to the nearest train station can be a slight pain, its positives outweigh these by a large margin.

Renters in particular who aren’t on massive incomes but still would like to be relatively close to the Sydney CBD should definitely consider it – it falls into a category of “good starter suburb for the newly-relocated” from other cities either overseas or elsewhere in Australia.

Likewise, home buyers who can’t afford the next “inner ring” closer to the city but still want a safe and roomy place to raise a family should consider it as an option. Don’t be put off by your preconceived notion of what this part of Sydney is like – it’s pleasant overall, has good upkeep, its parks are very good and there’s still enough of a cafe and dining scene for things not to feel dead.

It’s not cheap enough to call it a true “bargain”, but in terms of price positioning it’s certainly towards the good value end of the spectrum and should be on your potential list of slightly more affordable Sydney living places.