Initial data about Darling Point from the latest government 2021 Census – has just been released.

If you’ve ever wondered who your neighbours are, how they live and what they earn or spend on their mortgage, this is the place to find out.

The data reveals some interesting facts about our local area, including that the average age of Darling Point residents has risen. Meanwhile, the number of properties has decreased slightly, and incomes, mortgage repayments and rents have all gone up. So, interestingly, has the average number of kids per family!

We take a look behind the 2021 data to see how we compare to the state and national averages. We also look at what’s changed locally since the data from the 2011 and 2016 Censuses was released.

A focus on Darling Point

I’ve been selling real estate in Darling Point for many years now. While a lot of things have changed over that time, the Census shows that several constants remain – helping make sure this is an area that’s always in demand from both buyers and renters.

On 10 August 2021, or Census night, there were a total of 3,977 of us living in Darling Point, with a fair number more women than men (54.5% women vs 45.5% men).

Most of us (59.5%) were born in Australia, and 0.3% of our population has Indigenous heritage. Those born elsewhere come from countries as diverse as England (6.1%), South Africa (3.3%), New Zealand (3.1%), China (1.7%) and the USA (1.6%).

There were 1,046 families with an average of 1.6 children each. However, couple families without children (59.9%) far outnumber couple families with children (27.3%) or single-parent families with children (12%). Overall, there’s an average of 1.9 people and 1.3 cars per household.

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If we were to create a profile of an ‘average’ Darling Point inhabitant, it would be a 49-year-old married woman who was born in Australia and lives in an apartment with 2.5 bedrooms.

How does Darling Point’s population compare to NSW and Australia?

  • We’re a lot older than the average. With an average age of 49, we’re around a decade older than the NSW (39 years) and Australian (38 years) averages.
  • 16.6% of people in Darling Point speak a language other than English at home. This is half the NSW state average, but for those who do speak another language at home, it’s likely to be Mandarin, Italian, Cantonese, French or German.
  • We are fortunate to earn high incomes. Our median household income is $3,219 per week, and our median weekly personal, family and household incomes are around twice the state and national averages.
  • We give back through volunteering. Unsurprisingly, we outpace the state (13%) and national (14.1%) averages for unpaid volunteering with 19.1% of people volunteering through an organisation or group.

What does the Census reveal about Darling Point property?

  • Our homes are most likely to be apartments. Only 6.5% of properties in Darling Point are free-standing houses (nationally, it’s 72.3%). Even fewer are townhouses, terraces or attached dwellings (just 5.9%). A whopping 87.1% of dwellings are flats or apartments – this compares to a state average of 21.7% and a national average of 14.2%.
  • We have a high proportion of unoccupied dwellings. 21.4% of dwellings in Darling Point were unoccupied at the time of the Census, which is twice the state or national average.
  • Our properties are smaller than the Aussie average. Properties in our area tend to be smaller, with an average of 2.5 bedrooms per dwelling, compared with 3.1 bedrooms nationally.
  • We’re more likely to own our property outright. In Darling Point, 42.9% of properties are owned outright, which is well above the state (31.5%) and national (31%) averages. 18.4% of people currently own their property with a mortgage, which is lower than the state and national figures.
  • Around a third of all dwellings are rented. 34.9% of all dwellings are rented, which is slightly above the state average of 32.6% as well as the national average of 30.6%.

What has changed since the Census in 2011 or 2016?

There are some interesting trends worth noting in the data.

  • Our population is fairly static. In 2011, our population was 3,919. By 2016, our population was 4,190, and in 2021 it was 3,977. So while it grew a little, then dipped a little, it’s been pretty constant over the past decade.
  • The number of homes has been trending down. Ten years ago there were 2,573 dwellings, and five years ago, there were 2,527 dwellings. By 2021, the number of dwellings had decreased incrementally again to 2,454. So, while other parts of Sydney grapple with overdevelopment, we actually could be losing homes.
  • The average age is gradually increasing. It went from 47 in 2011 to 48 in 2016. In 2021, it was 49 years old.
  • But there are more children per family. Despite this, the average number of kids per family rose fractionally from 1.5 in 2011 and 2016, to 1.6 in 2021.

And the five-year data reveals other changes that impact the property market too:

  • Our already above-average weekly incomes have increased. Household incomes in our area have risen from $2,966 per week to $3,219 per week.
  • Weekly rents have increased a little. The average rent has increased from $787 per week in 2016 to $825 per week in 2021.
  • Median mortgage repayments have gone up a lot. In 2016, the median monthly mortgage repayments in Darling Point was $3,000. Five years later – and despite falling interest rates – it had risen to $3,900. That’s an increase of 30%.

Further data from the 2021 Census will be released in October.

Want more?

If you’d like to know more about our local property market in Darling Point, or if you need help buying or selling a home, get in touch.