Northern Beaches

Mortgage brokerBrookvale.

3,919 properties: 1,555 units, 311 houses, and more than half commercial or mixed. 44% of homes are rented, typical units around $1 million, and this is where the beaches go to work.

Last updated Monday 7 September 2026

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Brookvale at a glance

Last updated Monday 7 September 2026

3,389
people (2021 Census)
3,919
properties in the suburb
1,555
units vs 311 houses
44%
of homes are rented

What the suburb actually looks like

If you are reading this because you want to buy, refinance or invest in Brookvale, this is not a beach suburb in the usual sense. It is 2.2 square kilometres, 13 km from the CBD, and the commercial engine of the Northern Beaches. More than half the property count is not a house or a unit. Warehouses, light industrial and mixed-use sit next to a growing apartment market. Only about 3,400 people live here. A lot more people work here.

Apartments vs houses

Current stock sits at 3,919 properties. Units are the residential market. Houses are scarce. The largest slice is commercial and mixed stock, which is why Brookvale loans are often a warehouse, a factory, an SMSF or a unit investment, not a family home.

  • Commercial & other 2,053 · 52%

    Warehouses, light industrial and mixed-use. The reason Brookvale exists.

  • Units 1,555 · 40%

    The residential market most buyers and investors actually compete in.

  • Houses 311 · 8%

    Scarce. Almost nothing lists, and even less sells.

Tenants vs owners

At the 2021 Census, 44% of Brookvale homes were rented and 53% were owner-occupied. That is a genuine investor and renter market on the residential side, sitting next to the industrial estate. Owners hold for about 10 years on average, shorter than most of the peninsula.

  • Rented 44%

    The largest residential group. Investors and tenants share the same buildings.

  • Mortgage 37%

    Owner-occupiers and investors still paying a loan.

  • Owned outright 16%

    A smaller outright-owner share than the rest of the beaches.

Who lives in Brookvale

Brookvale is small and young on the residential side. Median age is 37, about a third of residents are 25 to 39, and households average 2.2 people. Couples with and without children sit at the same 41%. 32% of homes are lone-person households. 15% of workers are technicians and trades, which is high for the beaches and matches the industrial estate. Population grew 7.2% between 2016 and 2021, from 3,161 to 3,389, as more apartment stock came online.

37
median age
32%
aged 25 to 39
2.2
people per household
41%
of families are couples with children
32%
lone-person households
15%
work in trades

What property costs here

Treat Brookvale as two files. Residential is almost all units, typically around $1 million. Houses barely trade, and when they do they sit around $2.6 million. Commercial and industrial is the other conversation, often through a company, trust or SMSF.

$1.0m
typical unit sale, last 12 months
$2.6m
typical house sale, last 12 months
$900+
asking rent for a 2-bed unit
10 yrs
average time owners hold
  • Units do the residential volume. The middle of the market is about $1.0m, with sales from the high $700,000s through to around $1.2m. Two-bedroom apartments dwarf every other sale type.
  • Houses are not a real listing market. A handful of sales in a year, a middle around $2.6 million, and often nothing on. If you want a family house, you are usually looking at Frenchs Forest or further up the peninsula.
  • Rental stock is units. There were no houses advertised for rent in the latest snapshot. One-beds have been asking around $700 a week, two-beds around $900 to $950.
  • Four parks cover about 9.5% of the suburb. This is not a green village. People buy here for work, for a unit they can rent, or for a warehouse they can operate from.

Schools in the top 100

Brookvale does not have a high school inside the suburb. Families living in the new unit stock usually look to Balgowlah Boys, St Luke's in Dee Why, or the selective campus at North Curl Curl.

Nearby catchment

NBSC Balgowlah Boys Campus

Balgowlah

63rd in NSW, 2025 HSC

The closest top-100 government campus to Brookvale.

Nearby catchment

St Luke's Grammar School

Dee Why

67th in NSW, 2025 HSC

Independent K–12 on the Dee Why headland, a short trip north.

Nearby catchment

NBSC Manly Campus

North Curl Curl (2099)

25th in NSW, 2025 HSC

Fully selective government school. The strongest ATAR option used by local families.

Lending in Brookvale

Brookvale is the commercial engine of the beaches. Warehouse and light industrial purchases, often through a trust or SMSF, sit alongside a growing unit investment market around $1 million. A house here is scarce. A factory unit or a two-bed investment is the more common file, and the lender panel for those is not the same as a family home in Frenchs Forest.

James Haywood and the team live and work on the Northern Beaches, so the market here is not theoretical. We compare more than 70 lenders, prepare the application properly and stay on it through to settlement, then review it every year afterwards.

Other Northern Beaches suburbs

Northern Beaches overview
Dee WhyManlyFrenchs ForestMona ValeAvalon Beach

Population, age, tenure, household and occupation figures: ABS Census 2021, Brookvale (SAL 10598). Current property counts supplied for this page. Sale and rental ranges summarised from a September 2026 suburb market snapshot. School ranks: 2025 NSW HSC success-rate tables.

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