Queenscliff buyers agent

About the suburb

Queenscliff at a glance

Queenscliff sits at the northern end of the long beach that runs past North Steyne to Manly, about 16 kilometres north-east of the city, in Northern Beaches Council. It was named in honour of Queen Victoria.

Apartments far outnumber houses, and just over half of homes are lived in by their owners. Childless couples are the largest household group, and the most common age group is 30 to 39.

Curl Curl appears to have been the original Aboriginal name for the area: Manly Lagoon was once Curl Curl Lagoon, and Queenscliff Headland was Curl Curl Headland. From the early 1900s until the First World War, holidaymakers stayed in shacks on the headland. The large waves that break offshore are well known, and Dave Jackman's ride here in 1961 is credited with starting big wave surfing in Australia.

Life here centres on the beach, the headland and Manly Lagoon. Manly's shops, cafes and ferry wharf are a walk along the beachfront, and buses run along Pittwater Road to Manly and further up the coast.

The trade-offs are worth saying plainly. In a suburb of apartments, the building is the decision: strata records, levies, defects and what the owners' corporation has planned all need checking before you bid. Salt air is hard on buildings close to the beach, and parking is tight in many streets. And because few houses change hands, treat the house figures in the statistics box as a guide, not a price.