Waterloo, NSW 2017

One of the fastest growing suburbs in Australia, central to everywhere, safe and convenient.

Lived in the area for 5 years. Came from the Eastern Suburbs. Great value property buying in Waterloo. Close to the CBD and I often walk to work (Town Hall) and it’s an easy 45 minute walk door to door. Good shops, close to everything. When I drive I love the convenience of all the cross city tunnels; can be in the city within 10 minutes in moderate traffic and Balmain within 15 minutes. Quieter than Surry Hills and better value for money. It’s a relatively newly established residential suburb ( previously light to medium industrial) and going through a strong period of gentrification. Lots of professionals and younger people, which I find refreshing from stayed, stuck up and boring boomers in the Eastern Suburbs. West of Bourke Street around Danks Street is definitely the pick with favourable low rise zoning restrictions which makes for a nicer neighbourhood. I’d stay away from the Meriton end and further south as you approach Green Square and Zetland as it gets high rise there with 10-20 storey apartment blocks. Love the area and proximity to Centennial Park which is also walking distance ( 10 minutes). Fresh new infrastructure comes with the area and I think it’s very safe notwithstanding the public housing in the area. Good bus timetables with door to city bus routes and light rail about to commence from Devonshire/Bourke Street Surry shills which will offer another way to travel to the city via public transport. Uber/taxi fares around $20-24 in peak hour. What more would you want for inner city living?

Love living here - I call Waterloo the 10 minutes to anywhere suburb !! Waterloo is an evolving industrial and residential area of converted warehouses, Victorian terrace houses and modern apartments. It’s dotted with lively old-school pubs, hip bars and cool eateries. Shops selling art, antiques and funky homeware cluster around Danks Street. Moore Park features golfing, horseback riding, matches at the Sydney Cricket Ground and concerts and rugby at the Allianz Stadium.

Great upcoming suburb to live or invest in.

The location is good, but the part near Surry Hills is full of selfish, inconsiderate, rude and pretentious young men. Everybody has an unhappy face and some tend to be hostile.
Live here if you just want to have a short commute everyday, but if you are a family, forget it.

Waterloo is a great inner-city location, with an up-and-coming lifestyle. Plenty of local shops, cafes and restaurants, and excellent public transport options, with Green Square Train Station and lots of buses to the CBD. Walking distance to Moore Park and Centennial Park, and a short drive to a range of Eastern beaches.

Waterloo is a true inner city Sydney suburb. If you look at a map of Sydney, Waterloo is one of a pretty limited group of suburbs which is walking distance to the CBD. Its probably the last of those inner ring suburbs left in the city to undergo the significant gentrification that has already spread from places like Paddington and Darlinghurst twenty to thirty years ago, through Newtown, Chippendale, Surry Hills, then Redfern and Alexandria in the last 5 to 15 years. You can almost feel it and watch it in real time seeping next into Waterloo. If you walk a few streets up to Redfern and Surry Hills apartments are anywhere from 25% to 45% more expensive. So its a good opportunity to have the same lifestyle you get in those areas but at prices you could have bought in those suburbs for several years back.

One thing I would say is that it kind of depends which part of Waterloo you're in. The area west of Bourke St up to Waterloo oval around Elizabeth and George streets and going into neighbouring Alexandria is zoned no more than 5 or so stories so the buildings are low rise and are sort of the height of the trees around them; the bit to the east of Bourke St (which is really part of Zetland IMO) and within Green Square is zoned much higher density (we're talking 20+ stories in some cases) which can be a bit impersonal and noisy due to having too many neighbours. Depends on what you prefer, but looking for the lower density parts around Waterloo oval also further north up towards Redfern Park is probably the go as it feels more like a community and is actually closer to public transport as well.

The suburb has social and affordable housing mainly around its northern half near the border with Redfern, which turns some people off it, but really what most people end up buying or renting isn't all that near the social housing area itself. I've lived over the years in Surry Hills as well as Redfern and Waterloo, and there's been no difference between them in my experience in terms of the influence of the social housing. I've never had any problem, and I actually like having it around because it keeps the suburb diverse, interesting and place for all people, not just a bland homogeneous grouping of white collar types. There's also going to be a lot of money spent over the next decade or so redeveloping a lot of the social and affordable housing stock and encouraging more of a mixture of private and public housing.

The suburb has a tailwind of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment continuing for the foreseeable future including at green square, the public housing improvements, and a new metro stop adding to the already good connections the suburb has. Its close to heaps of parks, already has great restaurants/cafe's/bars with more opening all the time, and is close to the eastern beaches and all the cool stuff the inner west and inner east has to offer. Its one train stop to the city which takes like 5 mins if you don't feel like walking to work or riding your bike. All in all I reckon its a bit of a no brainer as long as you pick the spot well.

Living here for just under five years, my experience is that apart from the odd but harmless individual here and there, Waterloo is probably the most centrally located suburb that is currently undergoing gentrification already seen in neighbouring suburbs and is likely to soon explode in demand (my own opinion) due to it's relative affordability for its location.

Just look at the location on Google Maps and you'll realise why - 3km south of Town Hall means you're surrounded by everything of importance in Sydney, such as the CBD and other major employment hubs, prestigious universities (Usyd, UNSW, UTS), train stations (Redfern, Green Square stations, and future Waterloo Metro), frequent buses, airport/s, motorways (M1/M5/Future Westconnex/M4-M5 Link), local parks and parklands, beaches, and walking distance to suburbs with great existing restaurant/cafe/bar scenes (Newtown, Redfern, Surry Hills, etc.).

Expect huge changes in this suburb's infrastructure/transport and services/amenity offerings within the next 5-10 years as it and Green Square are literally the last pieces of large-scale developable land (excluding Centennial Parklands) within comfortable walking/cycling distance to Sydney CBD.

Love living in the leafy quiet Cope Street, friendly neighbourhood, great local John Smith Specialty Cafe, walk to parkland, so close to CBD. Easy walk to either Redfern or Green Square Stations. High frequency Metro Bus M20 runs every 10 mins connecting us to North Sydney & CBD means no need for timetables. The new 2.4km cycleway connecting Green Square to Central, linking Waterloo has added another benefit to local residents. My neighbour sends his kids to the local Alexandria Park Community School which is K-12 and partially selective, is only 10mins walk away. Oh, btw my dog loves running around local Alexandria Park which is off leash area at all times.

I have lived in Waterloo for 20 years and watched a wonderful gentrification, as many highly educated and superbly creative individuals and couples have moved in, to delight in this very popular suburb.
The NSW State Government as well as City of Sydney Council are pouring billions of dollars into Infrastructure in Waterloo, including an underground rapid rail station, a civic centre, olympic pool, library and very luxurious, high class, exceptionally gorgeous, multi-story developments. There are beautiful parks and waterways within and in close proximity to Waterloo. It is certainly a place of creative excellence and multiple interests, as well as very peaceful.

Waterloo must vary judging from the other reviews. We live in a unit near Lachlan St and the noise is terrible. The huge unit blocks echo and there is ALWAYS someone having a party at night, almost any night of the week. We're regularly kept up until 4am on weekends. It's worse than being in university. The traffic is really loud on Lachlan St as well with construction trucks in the early morning and hoon cars at night. It's also really hard to get anywhere via bus on weekends since the traffic is blocked up.

Otherwise it's quite a handy location with some good restaurants and a very nice walk to Surry Hills. I'd just be careful where you live in Waterloo, because it can be really really noisy. I have no doubt some people enjoy it but my area has been pretty terrible for us since we work 9-5.

Waterloo is so convenient to the city and airport whilst offering lots of great local amenities. Excellent restaurants and cafes, close to nearby suburbs like Surry Hills, lots of parks, supermarkets, speciality shops etc. A taste of the inner city lifestyle without the price tag of many similar suburbs.

I've been living in Waterloo for 3 years now and I love it!

There are so many developments going on that it can only mean it will get better. Great investment for first home owners.

It's close to the city, public transport is great with Green Square station a short walk away. Buses to almost anywhere you could want to go.

Lived in waterloo for 7 years, I have watch this suburb booming. In recent years, they have added: coles, 2 medical centres, 2 pharmacies, lots of take aways, 2 Asian supermarkets. Great transportation with metro buses and bicycle lanes going to city. ALDI coming soon on dank st. Lots and lots of famous cafe: sonoma and bourke st bakery. Good vibe.

Waterloo is one of the last, if not the last affordable areas to buy property within walking distance to the city. I doubt this will stay true for very long as recent times have seen vast improvements in the area. This includes cafe and eating areas like famous Danks St and new conveniences like the new Coles Supermarket that has just opened up. It is also close to parks like the newly redeveloped Redfern Park and also near by Moore Park. And with the developments at Green Square, property prices here are exected to be on the increase. I have found Waterloo to be a fantastic place to live. Lively, yet safe and so close to the city.