Albion Park, NSW 2527

Friendly locals, Blue Jay cafe in Albion Park is the best for food and coffee!!
Lived in Northern suburbs but prefer Albion Park after making the move in 2014. Leafy and green our family love it here.

Lived in Albion Park 7 years, it has a great community. Good shops and local businesses, transport and highway close by, not too far from Wollongong, Stockland Shellharbour and beaches.

After living here for over 15 years.. I can honestly say it is a really horrible place to live. It used to be much better but it's just been on a downward spiral for the last 5 or so years.

Albion Park and Albion Park Rail have a high percentage of housing commission houses, even all throughout the more "premier" areas such as Macquarie Shores, Koona St and around Mount Terry.

There's nothing to do in town so a lot of teens turn to drugs for "fun" which of course then becomes addiction in later years so there is a massive problem with drugs, bringing with it the common issues such as petty crime and violence, there is also a high teen pregnancy rate and idiots constantly doing burnouts and drag racing down the streets.

There are convicted pedophiles living in Albion Park and Albion Park Rail - one who delivers a catalog to homes (I won't say which catalog), one on Elm St and one on Terry St. These were reported on in News Papers at the times of trials/sentencing some years ago and have recently been a topic of discussion on Albion Park community pages, Social Media and i'm sure you will find old news stories online with a bit of digging too for further confirmation.

The government primary and high schools are really below par with severe bullying issues and staff who do not know how to handle it. Teachers have only the most basic of teaching material, even the brightest of students are severely held back by a lack of tools at their disposal. I would NOT recommend enrolling children in the government schools if you want them to get a good education and have a happy/safe school life.

Finding a car park at the local woolworths takes at least 15 mins most times and the suburb has recently had a massive population boom with the recent development onslaught of new homes and townhouses so the traffic is horrendous lately as there has been no roadworks to combat the growth.

Albion Park has recently had a massive boom in property prices too as a result of the Sydney boom trickle down effect meaning the homes simply aren't worth it in the opinion of someone who has spent half their life here. 6 months ago the average 3-4 bedroom home was around 400k-450k (or under if you found a gem!), now you can't find anything halfway decent for under 500-650k+, or closer to 700-800k+ if you want something near the lake (which is riddled with housing commission neighbours) or something up in the hills of Albion Park, however, rental demand really isn't that high and the rental prices haven't increased to accommodate the increased purchase prices for investors so unless purchasing purely for the purpose of negative gearing to significantly lower their taxable income due to high outgoing costs involved just to service the mortgage, it's simply just not worth it. Average purchase price of 600k and an average rental return of only $440pw.... Speaks for itself.

Obviously a price spike is great for people looking to sell up and get out while the market is hot, but not good for young families trying to buy their first home in a suburb which used to be very affordable. The prices won't stay like this for much longer though, with all the new developments in Tullimbar and Calderwood etc and a townhouse boom in Albion Park Rail (along the highway, Station St etc) increasing supply along with property prices falling in Sydney now it'll soon hit Albion Park.

If you're looking to sell, id do it soon. If you're looking to buy... I'd hold off until the prices drop back to normal in a few months or look at the much nicer surrounding suburbs such as Blackbutt, Oak Flats, Shellharbour, Horsley or Kiama. The house / unit prices there are virtually the same, in some cases even cheaper and the suburbs are much safer.

A suburb with history and growing with the Illawarra's families who are moving there for a better and safer life. Albion Park has great schools, both private and public and excellent sporting facilities. theres an abundance of outdoor areas and its not too hilly for the little ones to ride bikes. Where else inthe Illawarra are just as likely to see kids riding horses around, playing all football codes and still have some forrest to play in.
I live near central ridge and at night I can hear the train pulling out Albion park Rail which is some 4-5km away. Gives you some idea how quiet it is.