Is Petersham a nice place to live?

Petersham centres on Petersham railway station and a compact strip of cafes, shops and pubs beside tree-lined streets of Victorian and Federation terraces. The suburb is a community of many renters with incomes above the NSW median; couples without children are the largest family group and 51.6% of homes are rented. Everyday amenity is focused around the walkable commercial strip and small green pockets such as Petersham Park, and the Petersham Station accessibility upgrade was completed, providing two new lifts to the platforms.

Is it expensive to live in Petersham?

In Petersham a typical local household earned about $2,217 a week at the most recent Census, and buying sits well above that level. A median house priced at $2,060,000 is about 17.9 times a typical local annual household income, while the median unit price of $990,000 is about 8.6 times that annual income. Renting tells a different story: house rent of $1,045 a week would take roughly 47% of a typical local household's weekly income, a large share, and unit rent of $660 a week would take about 30%, a moderate share. Which matters more will depend on whether you plan to rent or buy and on your own circumstances. Everyone's financial situation is different, so it's important to consider your own circumstances when deciding which suburb is right for you.

Is Petersham a good place to invest?

What stands out in Petersham is the split between houses and units: over the past 12 months unit values climbed 11.7% while house values rose 3.0%. House rents rose 4.7% and unit rents rose 2.3%. Put simply, unit owners saw capital growth outpace rental growth by a wide margin, whereas for houses the recent rise in rents slightly exceeded the rise in values. This information has been prepared without taking your objectives, needs and overall financial situation into account. It is not meant to be a substitute for professional financial advice. For this reason, you should consider the appropriateness of the information and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice.

Get a property report and suburb profile for any property in Petersham

Please enter your address and select an option from the list.

Join the 2.6 million Australians* who use our services every year.

Petersham suburb profile

Petersham is an inner-west Sydney suburb centred on Petersham railway station on the Inner West & Leppington line. Tree-lined streets host rows of Victorian and Federation terraces with period details such as verandahs and ornate brickwork, alongside low-rise apartment blocks, and a compact commercial strip of cafes, shops and pubs wraps around the station to form a walkable local hub.

Petersham Park and other small green pockets provide recreation and play space, while arterial roads link the suburb with surrounding inner-city precincts. The combination of intact heritage streets, modest building scale and active local dining creates a village-style atmosphere within easy reach of the city.

Petersham property market performance

Current median dwelling price$1,525,000Past 3 months

Property growth+7.4%Past 12 months

Petersham's median house price is $2.06 million, up a moderate 3.0% over 12 months. Units have a median of $990,000, up sharply 11.7% over the same period; unit values rose faster than house values, and houses and units sold in much the same time, with houses at a median of 50 days on market.

In Petersham, unit rents rose a mild 2.3% over 12 months while unit values ran ahead of rents.

	Houses	Units
Median price Past 3 months	$2.06M	$990K
Change in value Past 12 months	3.0%	11.7%
Sold Past 3 months	17	24
Median days on market Past 12 months	50	46
Average rent Past 12 months	$1045	$660
Change in rent Past 12 months	4.7%	2.3%

5 year median price trend for houses and units

Access homes before they're listed for sale

Build a buying brief and get first access to properties that aren't yet on the market.

Petersham demographics

Petersham is a community of many renters with incomes above the median for NSW.

Couples without children are the largest family group at 45.1% and 51.6% of homes are rented. At the 2021 Census, 8,200 people lived in Petersham.

Petersham and NSW

	Suburb	NSW
Median age years	36	39
Median household income weekly	$2,217	$1,829
Couples with children share of families	39.4%	44.7%
Couples without children share of families	45.1%	37.9%
One-parent families share of families	13.0%	15.8%
Homes owned outright share of homes	19.7%	32.6%
Homes with a mortgage share of homes	28.7%	33.6%
Homes rented share of homes	51.6%	33.7%

Source: ABS 2021 Census. Shares of homes exclude other and not-stated tenure.

Petersham infrastructure, key developments and investment opportunities

Petersham's Petersham Town Hall had roof remediation works completed in 2024, and Inner West Council budgeted further town-hall upgrade works in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 programs.

The Petersham Station accessibility upgrade was completed in 2021, providing two new lifts to the platforms. Council's Delivery Program also budgets a Petersham Park sporting-ground upgrade with allocations in 2026/27 and 2027/28, and KU Petersham preschool is listed for structural rectification works with planned completion in December 2025.

Suburbs near Petersham

Some popular suburbs near Petersham include:

How does Petersham compare to nearby suburbs?

Median house prices: Petersham’s median house price is 3.0% higher than Marrickville’s.
Median unit prices: Petersham’s median unit price is 9.7% higher than Stanmore’s.
House price growth: Over the past 12 months, house prices in Petersham have grown 4.6% higher than in Marrickville.
Unit price growth: Over the past 12 months, unit prices in Petersham have grown 23.4% higher than in Lewisham.
Selling speed for houses: Properties in Petersham are selling 3.8% faster than in Stanmore.
Selling speed for units: Properties in Petersham are selling 4.2% faster than in Lewisham.
Investment considerations: In Petersham, the rental yield for house is 13.2% higher than the Sydney average, while the rental yield for units is 16.5% lower.
House price growth: Over the past 12 months, house prices in Petersham have grown 10.8% higher than the average rate of growth across Sydney.
Unit price growth:Over the past 12 months, unit prices in Petersham have grown 2.5% higher than the average rate of growth for units across Sydney.

Common questions about Petersham

Is Petersham a nice place to live?
Petersham centres on Petersham railway station and a compact strip of cafes, shops and pubs beside tree-lined streets of Victorian and Federation terraces.

The suburb is a community of many renters with incomes above the NSW median; couples without children are the largest family group and 51.6% of homes are rented. Everyday amenity is focused around the walkable commercial strip and small green pockets such as Petersham Park, and the Petersham Station accessibility upgrade was completed, providing two new lifts to the platforms.
Is it expensive to live in Petersham?
In Petersham a typical local household earned about $2,217 a week at the most recent Census, and buying sits well above that level. A median house priced at $2,060,000 is about 17.9 times a typical local annual household income, while the median unit price of $990,000 is about 8.6 times that annual income. Renting tells a different story: house rent of $1,045 a week would take roughly 47% of a typical local household's weekly income, a large share, and unit rent of $660 a week would take about 30%, a moderate share. Which matters more will depend on whether you plan to rent or buy and on your own circumstances.

Everyone's financial situation is different, so it's important to consider your own circumstances when deciding which suburb is right for you.
Is Petersham a good place to invest?
What stands out in Petersham is the split between houses and units: over the past 12 months unit values climbed 11.7% while house values rose 3.0%. House rents rose 4.7% and unit rents rose 2.3%.

Put simply, unit owners saw capital growth outpace rental growth by a wide margin, whereas for houses the recent rise in rents slightly exceeded the rise in values.

This information has been prepared without taking your objectives, needs and overall financial situation into account. It is not meant to be a substitute for professional financial advice. For this reason, you should consider the appropriateness of the information and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice.

Choose the right real estate agents in Petersham

There are 61 real estate agents in Petersham, but they don’t all deliver the same results.

Some agents have a much stronger presence in the suburb, with just 5 agents handling around 50.9% of all sales in the past year.

Commission rates in Petersham typically range from 1.66% to 2.15%. Comparing agents—including what they charge, what’s included, and how they structure their fees—is not only important when choosing an agent, the right structure can help ensure your chosen agent is motivated to achieve the best possible result.