Zetland Suburb Review

Summary: Situated in a convenient location within easy distance relative to the Sydney CBD, Zetland is a rapidly-developed “pop-up suburb” packed with modern, high-density apartments and with a very modern-day design layout.

It mixes together well-planned public spaces with clean roads and shopping facilities to feel ‘fresh’ overall, and is largely designed to offer reasonably affordable apartment living for those who want regular access to the city.

Almost everything in the suburb is currently shiny and new, however how long this will last – and the quality of its constructions – remains to be seen. It also faces some major traffic issues, and is quite sterile as a whole while also lacking in character or nightlife.

Key stats

As a whole, Zetland feels like the real-life implementation of one of those little plastic models you’re likely to see on display in an architect’s showroom with the caption “this idyllic slice of urban living can be yours!”

It’s modern, it’s clean, there’s sharp edges and glass everywhere, as well as a range of green spaces cut at perfect right angles.

For those who champion the soul, grit and character of Sydney suburbs like Glebe, Marrickville et al, Zetland is almost the exact opposite of that.

Let’s be clear: this is by no means an “attack” on Zetland; it’s merely an embodiment of how truly different some of the suburbs in this city can be, as well as how different people’s preferences are going to be when looking for a place to live.

As Sydney’s population continues to grow, suburbs like Zetland become increasingly necessary this close to the CBD, and the name of the game with that is one thing – density, density, density.

Owing to all its new builds, the suburb as a whole feels extremely new, and – much like Wolli Creek – has sprung up and undergone uber-development seemingly overnight.

It almost entirely consists of modern, high-density apartments that have been built in short order, and offers the chance at relatively affordable apartment living within a very reasonable proximity to the Sydney CBD.

As a result, it’s not hard to see the appeal of Zetland at first glance.

Shiny New Face

For those who don’t like their back streets lined with graffiti, or find the signature curved, red-brick buildings of traditional Sydney an eyesore, you won’t find any of that here.

This is signature, new-age urban design that may feel a little sterile but brings along with it the benefits of all that entails – modern apartment fittings, clean new shopping centres, and public spaces that feature sleek designs and are (currently) kept in remarkably good condition.

Its location is an obvious boon in the suburb’s favour. Green Square Station sits on its western border and is within walking distance of most of the suburb – hop on and you’ve got a sub-10 minute ride into Central, and sub-20 minutes to Wynyard. Those feeling energetic could also opt to ride a bike into the city for not much longer, as well.

Zetland’s rapid population growth and influx of new residents has brought with it a number of new businesses as a well. There’s a range of trendy new little restaurants (featuring mostly Asian cuisine) and cafes, while East Village Shopping Centre is still new and shiny enough while providing a central hub of supermarket and other shopping needs.

It’s also quite a lot greener than you might realise given its relatively urban location. Trees have been carefully dotted throughout, there’s several nice little parks that show some tasteful landscaping, and while its highrise apartments are tall, at least Zetland’s planners have kept them spaced out enough for sunlight to shine through.

It’s very much “planned” greenery with a lot of right-angles as opposed to anything organic, but it’s generally done in quite a tasteful way – Joynton Park in particular is very pleasant.

“Zetland feels like the real-life implementation of one of those little plastic models you’re likely to see on display in an architect’s showroom with the caption “this idyllic slice of urban living can be yours!”

While Zetland itself doesn’t have much going on of an evening in terms of nightlife, its proximity to Erskineville and Newtown, Redfern and even Paddington help offset this somewhat. Add it all up and it’s quite a presentable package that Zetland presents – but is this only on surface level?

There’s a traffic problem here, for starters. All this rapid construction of high-density living has added yet more stress on the area’s infrastructure, with the Eastern Distributor already pressured enough beforehand as is.

There’s a number of bottlenecks for drivers around Bourke Street and Botany Road, and the traffic turns what should be a 10 minute drive into the city into a 40+ minute affair. Add in traffic noise from all this congestion, and it mars the otherwise pretty cityscape the suburb presents. 

Zetland is thus one of the posterchildren in Sydney for rapid development without much thought to the consequences.

Several of its newer apartment buildings have already had major issues with not adhering to baseline construction standards, and who knows how many more will either pop up in the future or fly under the radar until something bad happens.

There’s also a bit of a surplus of apartments available as of time of writing, but it hasn’t really had the effect one might desire on dropping property prices. Those looking for anything other than an apartment will almost certainly want to look elsewhere – there’s basically no detached housing available for sale in Zetland at any kind of regular frequency.

On the plus side, any apartment you should buy or rent here is going to almost certainly be quite new, with all the modern fittings and design touches that look nice and fresh.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a similar fairly-new rental apartment elsewhere in Sydney so close to the city, however even these are no longer cheap; since the pandemic, Zetland quickly went from a decent alternative for budget-conscious renters, to the present-day scenario where it honestly feels overpriced for what you get.

Paying $900+ a week for a small, mass-produced apartment feels something of a farce, especially given the build quality of some of these newer builds.

The Verdict

And that’s Zetland in a nutshell; if you’re just wanting something new and convenient to call home for a few years either as a young professional or uni student for commuting in to Sydney city, or perhaps to attempt to buy and then flip a few years down the track, then it’s got plenty of positive things going for it – albeit at an increasingly ridiculous price given the density.

It’s undeniably quite nice to walk around and dine in, and its public transport connectivity is a bonus.

It’s not really the type of suburb a full-blown family is likely to ever want to permanently call home, however, and its infrastructure problems, traffic, and lack of space make it a no-go for most retirees as well. There’s also still a lot of construction going on here, which will only add to things moving forward.

Perhaps the best way to sum up Zetland is that there’s nothing particularly “Sydney” about it at all – it feels like you could take it and plonk it in any major global city around the world and it wouldn’t feel out of place. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is almost entirely in the eye of the beholder, although we likely wouldn’t recommend it for most outside of young professionals and well-heeled university students.