Located in New South Wales, Skennars Head sits 741 km from Sydney CBD, around 8 hours 5 minutes by car. The suburb has 1,303 residents, a median age of 47, and a median household income of $87,048 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the top 40% nationally. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $550 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,297. The area shows no recorded bushfire exposure. 2 schools sit within the suburb boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Skennars Head a good suburb?
Skennars Head scores a B (58/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on safety and community, weaker on transit and prices.
Mixed results
2 schools
Car-dependent
Walkability 28/100 · 741 km · 484 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $1.77M
Low all-round risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 31/100
Advantaged
SEIFA decile 8/10 · median age 47 · 1,303 residents
Liveability Rating
58 / 100 · Ranked #569 in NSWEach bar is Skennars Head'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 Skennars Head?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
58 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataSkennars Head's house market is moving lower: the median sale price reached $1.77 million, roughly 13% below where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$1,770,000
31% above its 3 neighbours (median $1,355,000)
Based on 39 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 44 days — median across 14 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 4 bed 22 sales $1.76M
- 5 bed 8 sales $1.89M
Units
$540,000
20% below its 3 neighbours (median $675,000)
Based on 11 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 7 sales $398K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Skennars Head are currently listed at around $1.77 million on average. Based on 8 houses listed in the past six months.
$1.77M
8 houses listed in the last 6 months.
8 of the suburb's 508 dwellings (1.6%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Skennars Head rent for around $1,000 a week on average, based on 7 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$1,000/wk
7 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
7 rentals advertised against an estimated 84 rented homes (8.3%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $830/wk
- 48 bonds
- +22% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $620/wk
- 22 bonds
- +38% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2478 (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 202573 Severely unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 41% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2478.
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.
Gross rental yield
Indicative$1,000/week ($52,000 a year) on a $1.77 million median
Based on a small sample (7 listings) — indicative only.
Gross yield — before strata, rates, management, insurance and vacancy. Calculated from median advertised rents and median asking prices over the last 6 months. How we calculate.
Short-Stay Rentals
27 active Airbnb listings: 27 whole homes and 0 rooms. Whole homes are about 5.1% of the suburb's homes.
Airbnb only, as at Jun 2026; other platforms are not included. Active means reviewed in the past 12 months. The share is against private dwellings at the 2021 Census.
Is Skennars Head safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Skennars Head sits in the low band, with 32 incidents recorded in 2025 — down roughly 11% on the prior year.
32 offences
11.1% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–2025No crash in Skennars Head killed anyone or put anyone in hospital in 2021–2025.
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
Ballina Shire Council has published 6 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 1.5 km
- Rate
- -0.10 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -6.6 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Two schools serve Skennars Head, and performance is broadly on par with peer-suburb schools.
- • 1,330 students across 2 schools (avg 665)
- • ICSEA 1081-1102, median 1092 (above the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Xavier Catholic College Ballina (884 students)
Primary
Secondary
Walkability
Skennars Head is car-dependent on foot — at 28/100, most errands require a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Skennars Head.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 29.0 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 10.9 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 2.6 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 11.2 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 Skennars Head.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 40%
- Premises covered
- 627
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
Ballina: 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
The ABS scores 4 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 3 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the suburb closely.
Skennars Head is home to about 1,300 residents, with a median age of 47, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $87,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.7%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
1,303
Median Age
47
Median Household Income
$87,048/yr
Census Median Rent
$550/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,297/mo
Avg Household Size
2.5
Median Personal Income
$41,288/yr
Unemployment Rate
4.7%
Unoccupied Dwellings
3.9%
Total Dwellings
508
Owner-Occupier Rate
83.5%
Houses
88.4%
Rental Stress
32.9%
Mortgage Stress
31.7%
Work From Home
21.9%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 84.7%
- English Spoken at Home
- 92.9%
- Employment Rate
- 60.8%
- Completed Year 12
- 43.2%
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.
8 residents (0.6%) 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.
8.3% of residents (103) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (69).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 1,248 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
2% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (14 of 646).
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 $1,264 a year through Ballina based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Other and special use 40%
- Rural and farming 40%
- Residential 13%
- Environmental 5%
- Infrastructure and transport 1%
- Zones under 1% 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: Ballina
In the year to August 2026, 238 new dwellings were approved across Ballina. That mix is 154 houses and 84 units. Approvals are up 210.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Jali 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.
Setting
- Elevation
- 9 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 1.5 km
- 4.0 km to a named beach
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
1 facility within 5 km- 3.4 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · Xylenes (individual or mixed isomers)
EV adoption
In postcode 2478, 266 of 25,197 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.8% (965 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 4.9%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2478, 9,182 rooftop-solar systems totalling 55.6 MW have been installed since 2001, against 13,886 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 503 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
2 mortgage brokers are registered in this suburb, 9 across postcode 2478.
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 $1,770,000 this is $1,170,000 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 Justine Elliot Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Justine Elliot | 60.0% | 40.0% | +1.8 |
| 2022 | Justine Elliot | 58.2% | 41.8% | -4.2 |
| 2019 | Justine Elliot | 54.1% | 45.9% | -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 Tamara Smith The Greens
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Tamara Smith GRN | 57.7% |
| 2019 | Tamara Smith GRN | 55.4% |
| 2015 | Tamara Smith GRN | 53.1% |
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 Skennars Head?
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 1,303 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.
Featured in
- #1 in Ballina's most owner-occupied suburbs
- #1 in The safest suburbs in Ballina
- #2 in Best Ballina suburbs to rent in
- #2 in The most liveable suburbs in Ballina
- #2 in Ballina suburbs where the most residents moved from a capital city
- #6 in Highest-yielding Ballina suburbs (houses)
- #6 in Most walkable suburbs in Ballina
- #6 in Ballina suburbs that suit young professionals
- #7 in Ballina suburbs with the biggest house blocks
- #7 in Best Ballina suburbs for first-home buyers (houses)
- #7 in Ballina suburbs with the best public transport
- #8 in Ballina suburbs with the deepest rental markets
- #8 in Ballina suburbs with the best NBN connectivity
Nearby suburbs
Compare Skennars Head to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other NSW suburb — type a name and pick one.
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Common questions about Skennars Head
Is Skennars Head a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Skennars Head is low (31/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Skennars Head?
Skennars Head has no recorded bushfire history. These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Skennars Head a good place to live?
Skennars Head has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of B (58/100), 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 Skennars Head?
Skennars Head, NSW had a population of 1,303 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Skennars Head, NSW?
The postcode for Skennars Head, NSW is 2478.
How far is Skennars Head from Sydney?
Skennars Head is 741 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 484 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Skennars Head?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Skennars Head was $87,048 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 Skennars Head?
The median advertised rent in Skennars Head is $1,000 a week for houses (7 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Skennars Head?
The median age of residents in Skennars Head was 47 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in Skennars Head?
There are 2 schools inside the Skennars Head boundary: 2 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Skennars Head walkable?
Skennars Head scores 28/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it car-dependent. The score is a weighted average of public transport, schools, parks, supermarkets, GPs, pharmacies, childcare, and hospitals within walking distance.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Skennars Head?
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 Skennars Head belong to?
Skennars Head sits within the Ballina local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Skennars Head?
The average residential rates bill through Ballina is $1,264 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Skennars Head?
Across Ballina, 238 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 210.0% 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 Skennars Head in?
Skennars Head sits within the federal Division of Richmond, currently held by Justine Elliot (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
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- Short-stay rentals · Jun 2026
- 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.