Development Applications in Blakehurst, NSW

Development activity in Blakehurst

Look, if you’ve been working the south side of the Georges River as long as I have, you know Blakehurst is a different beast to the flashy knockdown-rebuild strips of Oatley or the sprawling new estates in Menai. This suburb sits tight between Kyle Bay and Connells Point, and the housing stock tells a story. You’ve still got solid mid-century brick homes on decent-sized blocks—the kind with a rumpus room and a fibro garage out back. Then you’ve got the newer two-storey infills that went up in the late 90s and early 2000s, and a handful of older Californian bungalows and federations near the water. It’s a mixed bag, but the common thread is that most blocks are north of 600 square metres. That’s the real draw here. You don’t get that in Hurstville anymore.

Right now, there’s only four development applications on the books. That tells you something. Blakehurst isn’t a boom suburb. It’s a slow-burn, owner-occupier market. The most active project types are new home construction and “other”—which usually means first-floor additions, granny flats, or serious internal reconfigs. The clients are almost always upsizers. They’ve sold a place in Bexley or Carlton, they’ve got equity, and they want a family home that doesn’t need a total gut. They’re not after a spec home to flip. They want four bedrooms, a decent outdoor area, and enough room for two cars. Knockdown-rebuilds happen, but they’re not the norm. The buyers here are patient. They’ll sit on a renovation for two years if it means keeping the original roofline and avoiding a full DA resubmission.

The local council is St George—and if you’ve dealt with them, you know the drill. They’re not the worst in Sydney, but they’re pedantic. Turnaround on a standard new home DA is sitting around four to five months, assuming your plans are clean and you’ve done your tree report upfront. The big sticking point is stormwater. Every second application gets knocked back because the drainage design doesn’t account for the overland flow path off the ridge. You’ve also got a heritage overlay in parts near the water, but it’s patchy. Most of the suburb is R2 low density, so don’t bother pushing for dual occupancy unless you’ve got a battle-axe block with deep rear access. Councillors are sensitive to bulk and scale. Keep your ridge height under 8.5 metres and your side setbacks generous, or you’ll be sitting in a mediation meeting for six months.

What a lot of builders miss about Blakehurst is the soil. The suburb sits on a mix of Hawkesbury sandstone and Wianamatta shale. That means you’ll hit rock within a metre on the high side of the street, but you can dig through clay for a slab on the low side. Get a geotech done before you quote. I’ve seen blokes lose their margin on a retaining wall because they didn’t allow for the rock cut. Also, the sewer mains are old. You’ll find vitrified clay pipes running through backyards, and the council wants a 1.5 metre clearance on any new structure. That eats into your buildable area fast.

The market itself is steady. Prices have softened a bit from the 2021 peak, but not by much. A decent three-bedder on a 650 square metre block still goes for $1.8 to $2.2 million. Finished new homes are listing around $2.8 to $3.5 million, depending on the finishes and whether you’ve got a water view. There’s no frantic bidding. Buyers here do their homework. They know which builders have a good rep with council and which ones leave a mess. If you’re a tradie looking to pick up work, the bread and butter is bathroom renos and second-storey additions. The big money is in new builds on the water side of Woniora Road, but those jobs go to the same three or four custom builders every time. You need to be in their network.

If you’re