Nedlands, WA 6009Home loan and property guide

Nedlands location and character

Nedlands lies approximately 6 km south-west of the Perth CBD and runs from Aberdare Road in the north to the Swan River in the south, with Broadway, Hampden Road and Winthrop Avenue on its eastern side and Claremont to the west. Stirling Highway crosses the middle of the suburb. Most of Nedlands is in the City of Nedlands, but Landgate boundary data places the QEII Medical Centre and the streets between Hampden Road and Winthrop Avenue in the City of Perth.

The City's history records that the district was governed by the Claremont Road Board from 1893, renamed the Nedlands Road Board in 1932, and proclaimed the City of Nedlands in 1959. Its Local Planning Strategy describes the residential precincts on either side of Stirling Highway as developed from the 1920s on generally large lots arranged in an east-west grid. The University of Western Australia adjoins the suburb in neighbouring Crawley.

Transport and amenity in Nedlands

Nedlands has no train station. Public Transport Authority records show bus routes from the suburb terminating at Claremont Station and Shenton Park Station, both on the Fremantle and Airport lines in neighbouring suburbs, and place Karrakatta and Loch Street stations a short distance north of the boundary in Karrakatta. By bus, route 995 runs between Claremont Station and Elizabeth Quay Bus Station, routes 998 and 999 cross the suburb, route 950 links the QEII Medical Centre with the city and Morley, and the Purple CAT serves Broadway, Hampden Road and the hospitals.

Health is the dominant land use in the north-east. Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which describes itself as one of Australia's leading teaching tertiary hospitals, and Perth Children's Hospital, which state health records show opened in 2018, share the QEII Medical Centre on Hospital Avenue. Hollywood Private Hospital, operated by Ramsay Health Care on Monash Avenue, describes itself as the largest private hospital in Australia. The City's planning documents refer to the hospitals and the university together as the UWA-QEII Specialised Activity Centre.

Government schools in the suburb are Nedlands Primary School and Hollywood Primary School, with Dalkeith Primary School and Shenton College in the adjoining suburbs of Dalkeith and Shenton Park. Along the river, the City lists Charles Court Reserve as the Nedlands foreshore, and it is preparing a Foreshore Management Plan with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Shops and cafes are found along Stirling Highway, Broadway and Hampden Road.

Housing stock in Nedlands

The City's Local Planning Strategy describes the housing either side of Stirling Highway as mostly of the 1920s and 1930s, defined by traditional single-storey dwellings on wide frontages, with two-storey replacements steadily appearing among the original houses. It also notes inter-war two-storey flats along the highway. Houses of this age commonly show cracking, ageing roofs, old wiring and plumbing, and timber pest damage in inspections, and many have been extended more than once, so buyers may wish to confirm that additions were approved.

New supply is mostly apartments and townhouses on the rezoned land along Stirling Highway and Broadway, in the streets behind them, and near Hampden Road and Monash Avenue. The City's list of Development Assessment Panel decisions for 2026 includes approvals for multiple dwellings in Louise Street and Portland Street and grouped dwellings in Cooper Street. At the 2021 Census only 337 occupied dwellings were flats or apartments, so that stock was still small. Smaller dwellings remain scarce.

Who lives and buys in Nedlands

The 2021 Census counted 10,561 residents in Nedlands, with a median age of 42 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.7 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Of 3,711 occupied private dwellings, 2,792 were separate houses, 583 were semi-detached, terrace or townhouse dwellings and 337 were flats or apartments. Houses made up 75.2 per cent of occupied homes, slightly above the national share of 72.3 per cent, while apartments made up 9.1 per cent against 14.2 per cent nationally.

Outright ownership was the most common tenure. The Census recorded 1,609 dwellings owned outright, 1,016 owned with a mortgage and 967 rented, so 43.6 per cent of households with a stated tenure owned outright, compared with 31.0 per cent across Australia, and 26.2 per cent rented against 30.6 per cent. Median weekly household income was $2,832 compared with $1,746 nationally, median weekly rent was $500 against $375, and median monthly mortgage repayments were $3,347 against $1,863.

Households are family oriented. Children aged 5 to 14 were the largest ten-year age group, with 1,461 residents, followed by 1,418 people aged 45 to 54, and there were also 828 residents aged 20 to 24, consistent with a university next door. Three-bedroom and four-bedroom dwellings were almost equally common, at 1,215 and 1,214 homes, and a further 563 had five or more bedrooms. For a buyer, the figures describe an established, high-income owner-occupier market led by upgraders, with a smaller rental segment.

Planning, density and natural hazards in Nedlands

The City of Nedlands Local Planning Scheme No. 3 was gazetted in April 2019. It followed a Local Planning Strategy, finalised in September 2017, that plans Stirling Highway as a high intensity, predominantly medium-rise urban growth area, with transition zones behind it stepping down to the established low-density streets, and that plans Hampden Road, Broadway and Monash Avenue as medium intensity, low to medium-rise growth areas. A house near these corridors may therefore gain an apartment building as a neighbour.

The City has since adopted Local Planning Policy 5.14, Precincts, which sets built form controls for the Broadway, Hampden-Hollywood and Stirling Highway residential precincts. The policy provides for buildings of six storeys on Broadway and seven storeys on Stirling Highway, with up to ten where solar access, vehicle access and sustainability criteria are met. Larger applications are determined by a Development Assessment Panel rather than the council. The City also keeps a Heritage List under the scheme.

The Map of Bush Fire Prone Areas designates strips along the eastern edge of the suburb opposite Kings Park and near Smyth Road in the north-west, where additional planning and building requirements may apply. Department of Water and Environmental Regulation floodplain mapping for the Swan River reaches only the foreshore at the southern end. State Planning Policy 5.4 maps a significant traffic route through the suburb as a transport noise corridor.

Buying in Nedlands: offers, zoning checks and costs

Houses in Nedlands are usually sold by private treaty on an offer and acceptance form. Consumer Protection WA explains that the signed form becomes a binding contract once all terms are agreed, that there is no mandatory cooling-off period and that Western Australia has no mandatory seller disclosure statement. For an older house that usually means conditions for finance approval and for building and timber pest inspections, and in Nedlands it may also mean checking the zoning and density code of the lot and of its neighbours on the City's zoning maps before signing.

Consumer Protection WA notes that the deposit is negotiable and is generally held in a trust account until settlement, when the balance is paid and the title is transferred. Buyers of new apartments and townhouses receive strata disclosure documents, which Landgate requires the seller to provide before the contract is signed. Because transfer duty rises with the purchase price, it is usually the largest upfront cost in a suburb of high-value houses, ahead of settlement agent and registration fees. The stamp duty calculator on this site gives a general estimate.

Home loan considerations for Nedlands property

Loan sizes for Nedlands houses are often large. Some lenders apply lower maximum loan-to-value ratios, additional credit checks or second valuations above internal loan size limits, and lenders mortgage insurance may be unavailable or restricted at higher amounts, so a substantial deposit is commonly needed. Valuations can vary where a house sits on land zoned for higher density, because the valuer must decide whether the dwelling or the development potential drives value, and lenders generally lend against the property as it stands rather than against a future project.

Buyers who intend to demolish and rebuild may need a construction loan, which is drawn down in stages against a fixed-price building contract and approved plans, and lenders usually assess the completed value. For new apartments near the highway or the hospitals, some lenders set minimum floor areas or limit exposure to one building, strata levies reduce borrowing power, and off-the-plan purchases are valued again near settlement. Upgraders who buy before selling may wish to ask how bridging finance is assessed.

Lending considerations for Nedlands

• Large loans may attract lower maximum loan-to-value ratios, second valuations or extra credit checks, so a larger deposit is commonly needed.
• Lenders mortgage insurance may be unavailable or restricted at higher loan amounts, which limits the scope for a small deposit.
• A house on land zoned for higher density can be hard to value, and lenders generally lend against the property as it stands.
• Knock-down and rebuild projects usually need a construction loan drawn in stages against a fixed-price contract and approved plans.
• New apartments may be subject to minimum floor areas or building exposure limits, and off-the-plan purchases are valued again near settlement.
• Western Australian contracts have no mandatory cooling-off period, so finance and inspection conditions need to be written into the offer.

Lender policy differs between institutions and changes over time. The guide to Australian lenders explains how credit policy varies, and the home loan guide sets out the main loan structures.