Northern Beaches

Mortgage brokerManly.

11,495 properties, 8,073 of them units. More than half the suburb rents, houses trade around $5 million, and Stella Maris is in the NSW top 100.

Last updated Monday 7 September 2026

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Manly at a glance

Last updated Monday 7 September 2026

16,296
people (2021 Census)
11,495
properties in the suburb
8,073
units vs 1,616 houses
51%
of homes are rented

What the suburb actually looks like

If you are reading this because you want to buy, refinance or invest in Manly, you are looking at one of the most tightly held, expensive postcodes on the Northern Beaches. It is 11 km from the CBD, 5.6 square kilometres of harbour, ocean and parkland, and more than half the homes have a tenant in them. Houses here are scarce. Units do the volume. Both cost more than almost anywhere else on the peninsula.

Apartments vs houses

Current stock sits at 11,495 properties. Units still dominate, but Manly is not a cheap apartment suburb. A unit loan here is often a $2 million file, and a house is a different conversation again.

  • Units 8,073 · 70%

    The stock most buyers actually see. Two-beds do most of the sales.

  • Houses 1,616 · 14%

    Tightly held and expensive. When one lists, it is usually an auction.

  • Other 1,806 · 16%

    Townhouses and mixed stock between a unit and a full house.

Tenants vs owners

At the 2021 Census, 51% of Manly homes were rented. Owner-occupiers were 46%, split between people who own outright and a relatively small mortgaged group. Investors and owner-occupiers are regularly bidding on the same buildings, especially around the Corso, North Steyne and the harbour side.

  • Rented 51%

    A genuine tenant market, which is why investors stay interested.

  • Owned outright 28%

    Longer-term holders. People stay in Manly for about 15 years on average.

  • Mortgage 18%

    A smaller mortgaged share than most of Sydney, and the loans are larger.

Who lives in Manly

Manly is a professional suburb with a young-adult core. The biggest age group is still 30 to 39, median age is 38, and 42% of workers are professionals — well above the NSW average. Households are more often couples without children, or someone living alone, than a family of four. Population only grew 2.7% between 2016 and 2021, from 15,866 to 16,296. The suburb does not add much new housing, which is part of why prices hold.

38
median age
31%
aged 25 to 39
2.2
people per household
54%
of families are couples without children
32%
lone-person households
42%
work as professionals

What property costs here

Treat Manly as two markets. Houses trade like scarce beach houses, often at auction, in the high millions. Units trade more often, but the middle of that market is still close to $2 million, with a long tail of harbour and ocean-front stock well above that.

$5.0m
typical house sale, last 12 months
$2.0m
typical unit sale, last 12 months
$1,600+
asking rent for a better 2-bed unit
15 yrs
average time owners hold
  • Recent house sales have clustered around $3.9m to $6.1m, with the middle of the market near $5 million. Three- and four-bedroom houses do most of the trading, and there are never many on at once.
  • Units are the volume story. The middle of the market is about $2.0m, with plenty trading from the mid-$1.2m range through to $3 million for the better positions. Two-bedroom apartments dwarf every other sale type.
  • Rental stock is mostly units. One-beds have been asking around $700 a week. Better two-beds are into the $1,600s. Three-bed houses have been listed around $1,850 to $1,900 a week, and larger houses well above that.
  • Nineteen parks cover about half the suburb. Combined with the ferry, the Corso and two beaches, that is why people pay a premium to stay in 2095 rather than move up the peninsula.

Schools in the top 100

School catchments still move the needle for family buyers, even in a unit-heavy suburb. Manly has a girls' college inside the suburb in the NSW top 100, and the selective campus most locals talk about is a few minutes north in North Curl Curl.

In the suburb

Stella Maris College

Eurobin Avenue, Manly

93rd in NSW, 2025 HSC

Girls' Catholic college in the suburb. Comprehensive and non-selective, still inside the 2025 top 100.

Nearby catchment

NBSC Manly Campus

North Curl Curl (2099)

25th in NSW, 2025 HSC

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

Nearby catchment

NBSC Balgowlah Boys Campus

Balgowlah

63rd in NSW, 2025 HSC

Comprehensive boys' campus that also landed inside the 2025 top 100.

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 up the peninsula.

Lending in Manly

Manly buyers are usually competing at auction with short settlement expectations. A $2 million unit and a $5 million house can sit a few streets apart and be treated as completely different credit files. Solid pre-approval, a lender who will move quickly on valuation, and a structure that can actually service a jumbo loan is the difference between winning and watching.

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 WhyFrenchs ForestMona ValeAvalon BeachBrookvale

Population, age, tenure, household and occupation figures: ABS Census 2021, Manly (SAL 12485). 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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