Fernhill NSW 2519
Fernhill is a suburb in New South Wales, 79 km from Sydney CBD, around 1 hour 20 minutes by car. Population is 987; the median age is 45 and the median household income is $57,564 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the lower-middle tier nationally. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $190 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,167. Fernhill is characterised by high crime risk and no recorded bushfire exposure. Walkability is high.
Is Fernhill a good suburb?
Fernhill scores a B (51/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on transit, weaker on prices and safety.
Very walkable
Walkability 81/100 · 78.9 km · 81 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $1.29M · Less affordable than 86% of NSW
High crime risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 80/100
Below-average income
SEIFA decile 3/10 · median age 45 · 987 residents
Liveability Rating
51 / 100 · Ranked #718 in NSWEach bar is Fernhill's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
No flood data is published for New South Wales — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.
How do you rate the liveability in Fernhill?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
51 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataFernhill's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $1.29 million, about 3% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$1,292,500
5% below its 5 neighbours (median $1,360,000)
Based on 19 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 9 sales $1.2M
- 4 bed 5 sales $1.41M
Units
$940,000
Based on only 3 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Rental Market
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $750/wk
- 19 bonds
- +35% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $600/wk
- 19 bonds
- +49% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2519 (NSW publishes bonds by postcode, which can cover several suburbs). Change since 2021 compares the median of the first four quarters with the last four. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.
Rental affordability
June quarter 202584 Unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 36% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2519.
SGS Rental Affordability Index: a score of 100 means rent takes 30% of income, the usual housing-stress line; lower scores are less affordable. "Region" is the capital city or the rest of the state.
Is Fernhill safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Fernhill sits in the high band, with 72 incidents recorded in 2025 — up roughly 106% on the prior year.
72 offences
105.7% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20253 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the suburb carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Council Flood Studies
Wollongong City Council has published 22 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
- Hewitts Creek Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan July 2026 2026
- Collins Creek Floodplain Risk Management Study & Plan 2025
- Fairy & Cabbage Tree Creeks FRMS&P 2024 2024
- Allans Creek Flood Study & Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan 2024 2024
- Towradgi Creek Flood Study, Floodplain Risk Management Study & Plan 2023 2023
Schools
Universities nearby
2.1% of residents here are full-time university students aged 15–24.
Distance is measured to the suburb centre. A campus nearby does not by itself mean a student rental market — most suburbs within a few kilometres of one have a student share close to the national norm, and the figure above is what tells them apart.
Walkability
Fernhill is very walkable on foot — at 81/100, most daily errands can be done on foot.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Fernhill.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 9.2 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 6.3 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 3.5 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 3.5 min
- Span of service
- 17.2 hours
Scheduled service only, based on the 21 October 2026 timetable. Reliability (delays, cancellations) not measured.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Fernhill.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 100%
- Premises covered
- 508
NBN Co fixed-line and fixed-wireless premises, as at 30 December 2025. Higher-quality technologies (full fibre) score above copper, wireless, and satellite. Actual speeds depend on your plan.
Amenities
Wollongong: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this suburb alone — this suburb's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
Fernhill is home to 987 residents, with a median age of 45, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $58,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
987
Median Age
45
Median Household Income
$57,564/yr
Census Median Rent
$190/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,167/mo
Avg Household Size
2.3
Median Personal Income
$30,940/yr
Unemployment Rate
4.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
7.1%
Total Dwellings
424
Owner-Occupier Rate
47.6%
Houses
65.1%
Rental Stress
17.2%
Mortgage Stress
45.2%
Work From Home
34.4%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
131 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 23 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 211 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 73.5%
- English Spoken at Home
- 80.0%
- Employment Rate
- 43.3%
- Completed Year 12
- 35.4%
Occupations
Religion
Country of Birth (overseas)
Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents.
When They Arrived
Share of all residents by the year they arrived in Australia. Periods cover different numbers of years, so compare the shape rather than the bar widths.
9 residents (0.9%) arrived since 2016. Australia’s borders were closed to most arrivals from March 2020, so the last two years of that period are much smaller than the ones before them — nationally 260,799 people arrived in 2019 against 28,521 in 2021.
Where New Residents Came From
Where residents aged five and over lived five years before the 2021 Census, for those who lived somewhere else.
6.2% of residents (57) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (51).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 921 residents aged five and over. Areas are ABS statistical regions. Small counts are approximate: the ABS adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Languages Spoken at Home
Top languages other than English, as a share of all residents.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
4% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (13 of 355).
City centre: the ABS area around each capital's CBD, such as Sydney Inner City or Perth City (which takes in Subiaco and Leederville). 2021 Census place of work.
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,751 a year through Wollongong based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Residential 84%
- Industrial 12%
- Parks and recreation 4%
- Infrastructure and transport 1%
Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the suburb around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Wollongong
In the year to August 2026, 1,476 new dwellings were approved across Wollongong. That mix is 422 houses and 1,054 units. Approvals are down 31.3% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Local Aboriginal Land Councils are statutory bodies under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, responsible for land claims and land management for their members. Their boundaries are administrative and are not a statement of whose Country this is. NSW does not publish a register of Aboriginal parties by area — they are registered for each project.
Air Quality
MODERATEPM2.5 averaged 6.2 µg/m³ in 2025 — below Australia's NEPM annual standard (8 µg/m³), slightly above the stricter WHO guideline (5 µg/m³). 1 day exceeded the daily threshold of 25 µg/m³.
PM10 averaged 18.2 µg/m³ · NO₂ averaged 0.66 pphm. Days over the limit in 2025: PM10 2 · NO₂ 0 · ozone 2.
From the Wollongong monitoring station, 3.7 km away.
Climate & Setting
from Lucas Heights (Ansto), 37.9 kmHigh rainfall.
- Elevation
- 24 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 2.0 km
- 2.2 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 1,038 mm
- 89 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- —
- Winter min (Jul)
- —
Elevation is the ground at the suburb centre, from Geoscience Australia's National Digital Elevation Model. Approximate — it reads high in dense built-up areas. It is a measure of height above sea level and not an indicator of flood risk, which depends on height above nearby waterways.
Industrial Emissions Nearby
2 facilities within 5 km- 3.8 kmSewerage and Drainage ServicesTop reported: Total Nitrogen · Ammonia (total) · Total Phosphorus
- 4.5 kmHospitals (Except Psychiatric Hospitals)Top reported: Oxides of Nitrogen · Carbon monoxide · Particulate Matter ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5)
EV adoption
In postcode 2519, 163 of 12,516 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.6% (453 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 4.9%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2519, 2,083 rooftop-solar systems totalling 14.8 MW have been installed since 2001, against 6,942 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 149 went up in the last year.
Counts every system certified since 2001, so a roof re-fitted with a newer system is counted twice, and small commercial systems are included alongside houses — useful for comparing postcodes, not an estimate of how many homes have working panels today.
2026 covers part of the year only, to 2026-07.
First Home Owner Grant
FY2026-27$10,000 for new homes priced up to $600,000.
Off-the-plan or contracted-build value cap is $750,000 (vs $600,000 for completed new homes). Stamp duty concessions are a separate scheme (First Home Buyers Assistance).
Mortgage repayments
6 mortgage brokers are registered in postcode 2519.
Transfer duty at the owner-occupier rate, and it excludes first home buyer concessions — those can cut it substantially or remove it entirely. Excludes legal, inspection and lender fees. Check with Revenue NSW
The First Home Owner Grant applies to newly built homes only, so it isn't available on an established purchase. A first home buyer building or buying new under $600,000 may qualify for $10,000 — see what qualifies with Revenue NSW.
At $1,292,500 this is $692,500 above the $600,000 First Home Owner Grant cap. A first home buyer may qualify for $10,000 on a newly built home — check eligibility with Revenue NSW.
A deposit under 20% usually attracts Lenders Mortgage Insurance, which this doesn't include.
Principal and interest over 30 years, fixed rate. Excludes fees, offset, redraw and LMI. Default rate is the median comparison rate across 1788 advertised products as at 2026-10-27 — indicative only, and not an offer. Your rate depends on the lender, your deposit and your circumstances. Not financial advice.
Federal Electorate
Currently held by Alison Byrnes Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Alison Byrnes | 67.5% | 32.5% | +2.5 |
| 2022 | Alison Byrnes | 64.7% | 35.3% | -1.3 |
| 2019 | Sharon Bird | 63.4% | 36.6% | -0.1 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact suburb's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Ryan Park Labor
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Ryan Park ALP | 74.2% |
| 2019 | Ryan Park ALP | 69.8% |
| 2015 | Ryan Park ALP | 67.4% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this suburb's voters. Results: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.
Looking at a specific address in Fernhill?
Every figure above is a suburb average, and an average smooths over the difference between a street of family homes and a block of flats. Look up one address and you get the census for the few hundred people around it, its own nearest schools and stops, and what the state has mapped for that block.
- The census for a few hundred neighbours, not all 987 residents
- Nearest and zoned schools, with the walk from that door
- Flood, bushfire and noise mapping, where the state publishes it
Free to look up. Subscribers see every section in full — $29/month.
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Common questions about Fernhill
Is Fernhill a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Fernhill is high (80/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident). Offences against shops, venues and visitors are divided by the people who live here, so suburbs with large daytime or visitor populations rank higher than living there may feel.
What natural hazards affect Fernhill?
Fernhill has no recorded bushfire history. These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Fernhill a good place to live?
Fernhill has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of B (51/100), ranked against other NSW suburbs on school quality (25%), safety (25%), SEIFA socio-economic advantage (25%), walkability (15%) and CBD access (10%). Whether it suits you depends on what you weigh — each of those is on this page.
What is the population of Fernhill?
Fernhill, NSW had a population of 987 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Fernhill, NSW?
The postcode for Fernhill, NSW is 2519.
How far is Fernhill from Sydney?
Fernhill is 79 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 81 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Fernhill?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Fernhill was $57,564 a year. It is the most recent suburb-level income figure until 2026 Census results are released in 2027.
What is the median weekly rent in Fernhill?
There are too few current rental listings in Fernhill for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $190, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Fernhill?
The median age of residents in Fernhill was 45 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Fernhill walkable?
Fernhill scores 81/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it very walkable. The score is a weighted average of public transport, schools, parks, supermarkets, GPs, pharmacies, childcare, and hospitals within walking distance.
What is the air quality in Fernhill?
The nearest government air-quality monitoring station to Fernhill (Wollongong) recorded a 2025 annual mean PM2.5 of 6.2 µg/m³ and PM10 of 18.2 µg/m³. That puts Fernhill below the Australian NEPM annual standard of 8 µg/m³ but above the stricter WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³.
What is the weather like in Fernhill?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Fernhill, Lucas Heights (Ansto) (37.9 km away), 1,038 mm of rain a year over 89 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Fernhill?
First-home buyers in NSW may be eligible for $10,000 towards new homes with a purchase price up to $600,000. The grant is administered by Revenue NSW; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does Fernhill belong to?
Fernhill sits within the Wollongong local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Fernhill?
The average residential rates bill through Wollongong is $1,751 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Fernhill?
Across Wollongong, 1,476 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 31.3% on the same period a year earlier. These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.
Which federal electorate is Fernhill in?
Fernhill sits within the federal Division of Cunningham, currently held by Alison Byrnes (Australian Labor Party).
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Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Median sale prices · Oct 2026
- For-sale & rental market · Oct 2026
- Council rates · FY 2024–25
- Building approvals · Aug 2026
- Schools · 2025
- Public transport · Oct 2026
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2025
- Road crashes · 2021–2025
- Air quality · 2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- State electorate · 2023
- Amenities · Sep 2026
- Health & emergency facilities · Sep 2026
- Industrial emissions (NPI) · 2024/2025
- Coastal erosion · 1988–2025
- Aircraft noise · 2024
Vintages show when each source's data is from. See all data sources.
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Information shown is provided as-is from Australian government and commercial data sources.
Always verify with the relevant authority before making property decisions.
See Data Sources and How We Calculate for details.