Blakehurst Suburb Review

Summary: Largely encircled by the waters of the Georges River, Blakehurst in Sydney’s south is a suburb in which all things aquatic play a prominent role – from views, to food, to access to marine activities. Dissected almost in two by major (increasingly packed) arterial roads, it’s highly accessible for drivers and quickly offshoots into upmarket, almost purely low-density residential living on either side of the highway.

Much of Blakehurst’s streetscape is a mixture of high-to-extremely-high-end living, with only a handful of apartments, and homes that range anywhere from large to literal waterfront estates. This includes some notable heritage aspects with prominent use of sandstone, and some excellent views from multiple hillside reserves overlooking the water.

Its lack of train connectivity may turn off some, while its propensity for waterfront living means appropriately massive property prices are a staple here as well. Its inner residential areas are also notably lacking in amenities, however this is also a contributor as to why it’s statistically one of the safest suburbs in all of Sydney.

Key stats

When it comes to the combination of southern Sydney living, luxurious housing, and pretty waterfront views, there are few suburbs which can directly compete with Blakehurst.

Boasting the chance at a high-end, scenic aspect roughly equivalent to non-harbour-facing north shore suburbs like Putney or parts of Gladesville, this is an oddly-shaped slice of suburbia in which a mix of big, legacy and modern housing is the norm rather than the exception.

Other than its scenic aspect – with much of the suburb being encircled by the waters of the Georges River – Blakehurst’s position as a “south-but-not-too-south” location blends with its immediate proximity to two major arterial roads to make for an unusual combination.

The ingredients of the Blakehurst cake consist of a largely-premium streetscape sandwiched around a busy, bustling and somewhat hectic middle slice that’s absolutely draped in traffic; something which works both in and against the suburb’s favour.

The main southern route for driving in Sydney, the Princes Highway, runs directly over Tom Ugly’s Bridge (which connects it to Sutherland Shire in the south) and cleaves Blakehurst unevenly in two.

It’s a roadway that’s become insanely busy over the years to coincide with the rapid development of multiple Shire suburbs to the south.

This means that although Blakehurst has remained largely untouched in terms of higher-density construction, it still experiences spillover effects from all these extra cars on the road despite no fault of the suburb itself.

While works are underway to increase traffic flow, there’s no fighting the sheer volume of cars which use the road on a daily basis. This constant buzz of traffic affects the eastern portion of Blakehurst more than the west, both due to its “shallower” nature and the fact that it splits off into its separate arm of King Georges Road.

The two segments of road basically embrace this pocket of Blakehurst and make it a bit hard for the residential areas on this side to escape from at least some ambient noise, despite its back streets otherwise being relatively quiet in themselves.

On the plus side, regardless of how “deep” you live in the residential areas on either side of Blakehurst’s highway-induced split, accessing a major gateway to either the city or out west is a matter of mere minutes.

It also sees a consistent and frequent array of bus services which run along the highway, which travel to key spots such as Westfield Miranda down south, and Hurstville’s centre and station for accessing transfers onward into the city.

Distance-wise, in theory the drive from Blakehurst into the city should take around 30 minutes straight up the M1, and outside peak hours this is often doable.

As is par for the course for Sydney life however, the daily commute – which involves navigating traffic choke points such as Kogarah, and Southern Cross Drive in general – ramps this figure up northwards of an hour at the worst of times.

Lacking a train station, Blakehurst doesn’t offer much choice in this regard; those who work west don’t have it much better. The ideal scenario would be for those who live in Blakehurst and work down in the Shire who can head opposite to the flow of traffic – you’ve basically won the Blakehurst game with this combination.

The highway also serves as the only real hub of amenities for Blakehurst as a whole. The suburb lacks its own shopping centre, and its selection of stores along the Princes Highway is a bit of a mixed bag.

Outside of popular Chinese restaurant the Imperial Peking, there’s not much in the way of dining or cafes, with its Crystal Car Wash cafe being the closest thing.

For fresh produce and gourmet-style goods, the St George Fruit Market is a quality option, while the rest of Blakehurst’s strip consists of mixed medical, a bottle shop, car dealers, and other varied but mostly inessential services for daily life.

For anything substantial, most will want to head across Tom Ugly’s to Southgate at Sylvania, which is less than a 10 minute drive away.

This underwhelming amenity offering extends somewhat further into the residential portions of Blakehurst itself, particularly the west side.

For what is overall a pretty premium concentration of homes that houses around 5,000 people, it seems ripe for at least one little local corner store or cafe for locals to call their… local… without having to hop over to neighbouring Kyle Bay to do so instead.

Where Blakehurst more than makes up for this is in a category appropriate for a suburb with aquatic-heavy leanings: its seafood.

Blakehurst has long been a hotspot for a spot of fishing in general – with locals frequently seen dropping a line in under the bridge after grabbing some bait from Mac’s Bait Bar – and this comes to the forefront at the suburb’s southern end.

A duo of long-running, high-quality takeaway joints in The Bridge Seafoods and Smith’s offer the chance at some delectably-fresh seafood, with neighbouring little reserves to each ideal for grabbing an order and enjoying a bite while taking in Blakehurst’s water views.

For those occasions that are a little more high-end, upmarket seafood restaurant Bayblu is renowned for its oysters and seafood platters with direct over-the-water views as well.

It’s a niche specialty that helps set Blakehurst apart somewhat, and worth visiting and doing on a weekend from other suburbs for something different in itself.

It’s also an aspect that carries over to other portions of Blakehurst, notably its multiple boat ramps concentrated around the Kogarah Bay Sailing Club in Dover Park East.

This is a thin and basic shoreline reserve that neighbours some of the massive waterfront homes that parts of Blakehurst are renowned for, and again offers direct-water views of the various sailboats on the water.

This is mostly a consistent theme throughout Blakehurst’s public green spaces in general; its parks are largely plain and not decked out in facilities, but their views are above average and make up for this in their own way instead.

Todd Park is its major large sporting oval, with playground equipment; each side of Dover Park (East and West) offers uneventful grassland with great water scenery, and its other little reserves are unremarkable.

There are two main exceptions to this, however – Bald Face Point, and Carss Bush Park.

The former is a bush-heavy hillside reserve that offers a great panorama for taking a seat and overlooking the river and Oyster Bay, while the latter (technically in neighbouring Carss Park, but right on the border) is a much more expansive and leafy space.

It’s got plenty of room, nice walking trails, swimming pool, and decent parking facilities, but is also generally quite packed and fairly noisy due to the combination of families and its well-sized public play space for kids.

For those looking to be a little more active, Stuart Park over on the west side offers a well-kept basketball court, more playground equipment for the kids, some picnic amenities, and one of the only public toilets within this chunk of the suburb.

Again, it’s a little overgrown and not “pretty”, but it’s fairly roomy and functional nonetheless.

Although its parks may not be the most well-kept in the world, this certainly doesn’t carry over to the homes that populate Blakehurst’s streets themselves.

Blakehurst does offer some options for mixed-sized housing, albeit in small pockets.

These are mostly alongside the main roads for apartments, including newly-built blocks on the Princes Highway and on the suburb’s eastern side, where a couple of cute and well-maintained townhouse and villa complexes can be found.

However, make no mistake: this is an upper-tier suburb at its core, and it shows.

There’s a fair amount of history to Blakehurst’s streetscape, with a handful of historic, heritage homes and liberal use of sandstone on its highest-end properties.

These include a helping of older, large double-story homes with massive front lawns and sloping driveways, culminating in some absolutely enormous manor homes complete with statues and fountains along the likes of Townson Street.

In addition, the newer set of towering triple-story, more modern homes designed to garner water views from their top floor combine with a lot of other quite pretty homes that follow a number of different architectural styles as well.

It’s certainly not a “cookie cutter” streetscape like many of the newer, developer-oriented suburbs of Sydney, and has plenty of character (along with plenty of money) on display.

The proportion of newer homes is gradually continuing its uptick, however with property here being tightly-held Blakehurst is not the type of suburb to ever see rapid change in its streetscape coming in the foreseeable future.

It’s a highly clean and house-pride-heavy suburb that keeps plenty of paid gardeners employed and the landscaping in tip-top shape. There’s a relatively high proportion of palm trees dotted throughout, which add to its seaside, slightly-island feel as well.

Older residents watering their driveways are a frequent sight, and set the scene for what is mainly a very quiet and affluent area that won’t appeal to partygoers but offers a ton of living space for those who can afford it.

This is backed up by an incredibly low crime rate. Clocking in at a mere 0.04% crimes per capita, Blakehurst falls just outside the top 10 safest suburbs in Sydney (statistically, neighbouring Kyle Bay actually does qualify for the Top 10, and there’s not much difference between the two other than Blakehurst’s propensity for more road accidents on the Princes Hwy).

This is something that can be attributed to not only its wealth, but also somewhat to the lack of amenities to be found in this chunky residential portion of suburbia.

Blakehurst is also reasonably mixed demographically, with the majority of its residents of a blend of either Anglo or Asian backgrounds, and the average age a couple of years higher than that of Sydney as a whole, at ~41 years.

In terms of terrain, Blakehurst is fairly hilly in spots. Many of its streets on either side slope gradually down towards the water; this combines with its lack of rail connectivity to make for a pretty car-reliant suburb, although it would technically be possible to get by with bus services for those not too adventurous.

It’s otherwise quite well-equipped for both families and those with pets alike. A decent array of playground equipment populates its parks, while a trio of schools – two public, one Catholic – offer quality options for education within its borders.

The aforementioned Carrs Bush Park will be the go-to space for those with dogs, although they’ll have to stay on the leash, while the large Blakehurst Vet serves as a comprehensive animal hospital for pet owners as well.

Given that most of Blakehurst’s homes sit on such large blocks, there’s inherently big yards for kids and animals alike to run around within the home itself, too.

Blakehurst’s propensity for tightly-held, freestanding homes also means that there’s not as much supply on offer for those looking to rent.

It’s an owner-heavy suburb that’s seen strong property value increases over time, with only the fairly small collection of apartment blocks added providing additional options relatively recently.

Given this combination of large homes and frequent waterfront (or at least, water-facing) properties, it should come as no surprise that Blakehurst clocks in well above the Sydney average in terms of median buy price.

While some of its older, red-brick homes can be had for a relatively lower amount when they become available, the median still currently hovers around the $1.6 million mark with its modern homes often eclipsing double that figure.

“The ingredients of the Blakehurst cake consist of a largely-premium streetscape sandwiched around a busy, bustling and somewhat hectic middle slice.”

Its recent influx of apartments hasn’t been massive enough to provide what anyone would really call “cheap” alternatives, with its cheapest options mainly lower-rise type units around the border with Carss Park.

The newer units can be had for around $700,000 for a 2 bedroom offering, which isn’t too bad but still face the same issues with noise in proximity to the highway. Median unit rental price currently sits at $500 per week at time of writing.

The Verdict

Blakehurst’s a suburb in which wealth can unlock a pretty damn favourable lifestyle; it’s just that it requires a pretty substantial helping of that wealth in order to maximise things.

For those with the cash to afford a freestanding home, keep a boat, yacht or jet ski, and pay for other such privileges, the potential for an enviable lifestyle here is obvious – whether that’s admiring water views from land, or the act of getting out on the water itself.

Highly safe, and pretty well-located, there’s a lot to like here, while its greenery is adequate and its proximity to some other useful amenities (and suburbs populated with those amenities) is quite handy. Its car-oriented nature may make it a non-starter for some, while its issues with traffic are mostly restricted to the highways themselves; driving within Blakehurst and its back streets is fine in and of itself.

Its lack of shops, restaurants and cafes is slightly disappointing, but is offset somewhat by how readily available these are within a relatively short drive, and the peaceful atmosphere this results in for most of its inner residential streets too. It does truly feel ripe as a business opportunity for some enterprising individual to open up a local cafe or corner store hybrid to service the locals who make up much of its affluent western portion, as well.

This lack of drawcards combines with its generally older demographics to make for a place that’s a little boring for the younger crowd – there’s nothing on offer pub or even RSL-wise, which again keeps its crime rate low but makes for a suburb that’s uneventful as a whole.

As a result, you’re looking at a spot that’s largely best suited for cashed-up families or wealthy retirees, who are in a spot financially to best take advantage of all that pretty waterfront that Blakehurst has to offer.