Sutherland Suburb Review

Summary: A suburb for those after a chance at decent-sized living space without compromising on the best possible public transport connectivity to Sydney city, Sutherland is the key access hub of its namesake Shire.

It boasts a good mix of home sizes and types, with some lower-priced options due to its abundance of older builds and continual new higher-density modern blocks being added all the time.

It’s not completely “beautiful” as a whole but is mostly green, spacious and has a number of pretty parts, and its continually-modernising central retail area offers an increasingly solid selection of small-scale local services and food options. It has a handful of slight safety issues and isn’t the most lively of places for nightlife, but is quite well-balanced overall in terms of value as far as suburbs to live go.

Key stats

If you’re the type who wants to work in Sydney city then return to suburban life without wasting hours of your life per week commuting, then Sutherland may be one of the best available compromises for its price.

It’s comparable in distance and transit time to where it can be considered a direct alternative to the likes of Parramatta out west, with the added benefit of better access to more natural environments nearby and less urban sprawl overall.

While the distance and perceived insular nature of Sutherland Shire is a turn-off for some, it’s not entirely true and Sutherland itself is a prime example of why.

Hop on one of its express/limited stop trains in the morning and you can be at Town Hall in just over 30 minutes, with that jumping up only an extra 10 minutes or so otherwise.

That’s comparable to some of the suburbs far physically closer in, say, the outer parts of the Inner West or the bus-dependent parts of eastern Sydney with less issues affected by traffic – all while being much more open and greener to boot.

While that limits you to working in areas directly connected to the T4 line, it’s a prospect that can save a lot of time and headache on a daily basis.

Driving is a whole other matter however, with a number of traffic choke points along the M1 along the way to the city that can blow this travel time out considerably.

As a result, for drivers it’s most ideally suited for those who can find work elsewhere in Sutherland Shire – perhaps one of the reasons it’s such a popular place to live for tradespeople.

Living Space

It’s easy to see a number of the main benefits that living in Sutherland can potentially offer. This is a spacious and roomy suburb as a whole, with generally very wide and tree-lined streets boasting a highly solid diversity of home types both old and new.

This is particularly true on its west side which gradually slopes down towards the Woronora River and is home to quiet streets populated with mostly low-density freestanding homes.

Many of these are older fibro builds on well-sized blocks, with the occasional complex of villas or townhouses/duplexes mixed in.

It’s hilly in parts, and quickly becomes moreso the further west you go heading down to the river – with some houses along the hillside lucky enough to garner some great water-facing views.

It’s a prime candidate as an area for those looking to purchase and then renovate; even the rate of buy-and-knock-down activity here is quite busy as people look to take advantage of the big block sizes to rebuild a new home of their dreams.

Much of the western side of Sutherland is dominated by its large Memorial Park/cemetery, with Sutherland Park also a nice enough green space replete with running mini-creek and a spacious oval for sports.

This sporting theme is a strong one throughout Sutherland. It’s highly sports-oriented in general, with a wide array of ovals, swim schools, sporting complexes and fields, cricket pitches, and more home to a range of sporting clubs and other social activities.

The highlight of these is its sizeable Sutherland Leisure Centre complex – an excellent, multi-purpose facility both for competitive sports or simply for the family to cool off with a swim on a hot day.

If you’re a fan of footy, there’s likely an oval (or at least a roomy park) within a short walk, regardless of which part of Sutherland you end up living in.

Sutherland is also home to plentiful greenery, if nothing spectacular in particular. It’s more “solidly green” than home to any amazing central focal point, but most of its residential streets have good tree cover and wide nature strips in front of each home.

Fortunately, Sutherland also offers access TO plenty of different natural environments right nearby.

The Woronora River (and Woronora itself) is quite pretty and can be viewed from its west side, with its walk under the bridge well worth doing. Cronulla and its beaches are only a couple of stops away on the train or a 20-ish minute drive, and all the greenery of Royal National Park is only a stone’s throw away as well.

Within the suburb itself, its Peace Park on the east side is the one main standout; it’s not massive, but it’s really interestingly landscaped with a mix of Asian influences and well-kept lawns. It also offers easy access to the library right across the road, so a good place to enjoy some sunshine after a read or a study.

Amenity-wise, Sutherland is no slouch. While there’s no major retail outside of its large Coles supermarket and IGA for groceries, both sides of its station (particularly the east) provide a diverse range of services and small-scale eateries to choose from.

It’s not too cafe-heavy a-la the Inner West, however it has seen the occasional new, modern-style cafe open up in recent years and is continuing to evolve.

Most of its dining is a matter of local little restaurants and old-time “Milk bars”, small scale non-chain takeaway, and Chinese and chicken or kebab shops with the odd decent little restaurant thrown in.

It’s not exactly a culinary hotspot and some are a little run-down and oldschool, but does enough to get the job done.

Sutherland is more of a focal point for the likes of pubs/hotels and RSL clubs versus cafes, and there’s multiple fairly historic and solid options to choose from for a drink such as Boyles, The Royal, and some other mixed spots. It’s not exactly jumping for nightlife, but if you enjoy hitting the pub to watch some sport then it’s certainly decent enough.

Add in other essential services such as banking, medical, bottle shops and other daily needs and pretty much everything necessary is covered here.

It’s a pain for parking, however, and is busy almost all the time due to it being the only real strip where any kind of shopping is available in the suburb.

Befitting its traditional Anglo-heavy heritage, Sutherland is extremely church-heavy. There’s a church of some sort on seemingly every other block, many of which have an associated school or college adjoined to them.

As a result, it’s got plenty to offer for families, but is far from the most diverse suburb in Sydney.

There’s a disproportionate number of Aussie flags flown in front lawns or in windows here that you don’t really see in other regions of Sydney regardless of if that’s north, east or west. Go patriotism, I guess?

Traffic in general is not one of Sutherland’s strong points – both as an annoyance for driving, and the noise it generates as well.

It’s both fringed and bordered by the highway and River Road, with the Woronora Bridge heavily used by a ton of traffic (including a lot of big trucks) for getting in and out of Bangor/Menai, and as a result it’s hard to find a street here that isn’t affected by at least some traffic noise. Concrete sound barriers can only do so much.

It also seems to be a magnet for tradies who love to tailgate, or toot their horn aggressively if you’re stopped at a light that’s turned green for more than 0.5 seconds.

Add this to the stress of having to drive up and through ‘pleasant’ traffic hotspots like Kogarah/Rockdale to get into the city, and it’s a place you’d rather avoid having to commute from by road if possible.

For finding options for homes to buy or rent in Sutherland, diversity is definitely a strong point. It’s got a very diverse housing profile, which is becoming even more so as a range of newer, ultra-modern low-rise apartment blocks continue to pop up, with more already underway.

This combines with its existing mix of older homes, slick new townhouse complexes and older brick unit blocks in areas around Glencoe Street and surrounds to make for a very good selection to fit many different budgets.

The eastern side of Sutherland is more apartment-heavy and trends towards the cheaper side as a result; there’s some dodgy-ish elements around here, with neglected apartment blocks, trash-filled lawns and graffiti.

Some of this is reflected in Sutherland’s crime stats; while it’s pretty safe as a suburb overall, there’s some not-great elements in terms of break ins, domestic violence, theft and the like in isolated pockets around here and immediately around its train station.

For reference, this is the general area where both its police station, and local Centrelink branch can be found, and its multiple pubs means alcohol consumption is above-average as well. Its station also sees its share of dodginess, as well.

Price-wise, Sutherland is thus also quite diverse in what you can potentially pay to buy or rent.

Like much else of the greater Sydney region, it’s escalated in price rapidly, and while it’s relatively cheaper than areas offering equivalent space it’s not quite the bargain it once was.

“It’s highly sports-oriented in general, with a wide array of ovals, swim schools, sporting complexes and fields, cricket pitches, and more.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to buy a freestanding house for under the $1.3 million mark, but its mix of other housing types opens things up a lot in terms of choice. If you’re content with a townhouse or duplex, that figure can sometimes drop into the $800/$850k range.

The fast over-saturation of apartments here bears watching, too. All these new builds popping up means you may soon be able to grab a slice of high-density living for below the current median of ~$700k for a 2 bedder, complete with modern fittings and all the associated new bells and whistles.

Its wide range of older, solid brick units remains pretty impressive as well.

The Verdict

Can you commute via train directly into the city or a main station along the T4 line and don’t want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on where you live? If so, Sutherland becomes a no-brainer in this regard.

It’s an increasingly growing hub with retail and cafe offerings being added to its already solid services, with a decent helping of greenery and living space thrown in. Driving, traffic, and parking in its shopping district are issues, but may be worth the sacrifice in return for its other benefits.

There’s also such a diverse range of potential homes in Sutherland that both those with extra money and who want a bigger house versus those content to downsize – or anywhere in between – have plenty of flexibility here.

It’s got enough bustle to still feel lively, and while this brings with it some associated drama in terms of crime stats and the odd shady character, this is mostly confined to specific areas rather than the suburb as a whole.

For outdoorsy-types, its mix of sports facilities, cycleways and other spaces that suit the active lifestyle will likely be highly appealing. Families, too, will find a lot to like in terms of its selection of schools and potential extra space and green public areas for the kids to play.

It’s still highly white demographically and not much of a haven for diversity even though that is slowly changing over time, while its natural offerings are solid (if unspectacular) – both within Sutherland itself, and even moreso within easy striking distance nearby.

For the price, that’s certainly not a bad package by Sydney standards, and you could do much worse in terms of value as a place to buy or rent. A solid all-rounder that has gone up in price just like everywhere else in Sydney, but Sutherland still remains a reasonable value proposition relative to other choices.