Balgowlah buyers agent

About the suburb

Balgowlah at a glance

Balgowlah sits about 12 kilometres north-east of the city, in Northern Beaches Council. The name was given in 1832 and is said to come from an Aboriginal word meaning 'North Harbour', for its position on Port Jackson. Aboriginal people knew the area as Jilling, and early settlers called it Little Manly.

It is a mix of apartments and houses, with more apartments than houses, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Couples with children are the largest household group, and the most common age group is 40 to 49.

Edmund Barton, Australia's first prime minister, lived at Whitehall on White Street, which since 2004 has been the Norwegian Seamen's Church. North Harbour Reserve on Condamine Street is a popular place for large picnics, and it sits on the scenic walk that runs from Manly through Fairlight, Balgowlah Heights and Clontarf to the Spit Bridge.

Shops line Condamine Street and Sydney Road, and Stockland Balgowlah, opened in 2009 on the site of the old Totem Centre, has Coles and many smaller shops. Buses run to Manly, Warringah Mall, Seaforth and the city, and the council's free Hop-Skip-Jump bus stops here. Schools include St Cecilia's Primary School, Manly West Public School and the Balgowlah Boys Campus of Northern Beaches Secondary College.

The trade-offs are worth saying plainly. Condamine Street and Sydney Road carry heavy traffic, and noise changes a lot from street to street. Apartment buildings vary widely in age and quality, so strata records, levies and defects come first. For houses, the street and the block matter more than any suburb-wide figure.