IRSAD
Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage
Score 928
Measures relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.
Within AustraliaDecile 3 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 2 of 10
For state-level context, explore the New South Wales economy.
Housing
Fennell Bay
New South Wales · Census 2021
$820k+10.1% yrmedian house · Dec 2025
Fennell Bay is a coastal suburb of Lake Macquarie.
Median house price
$820k33rd pctile
of 2,365 priced NSW suburbs
Household income
$1,375/wk37th pctile
of 4,352 NSW suburbs
Amenity score
6/10035th pctile
of 2,112 rated NSW suburbs
Median house price
Rolling median of settled transfers, state Valuer-General open data (CC BY 4.0). Median of New South Wales suburb medians: $1.0M.
How it compares
Median house price33rd percentile
<$160k2,365 priced suburbs$5.5M+
Household income / wk37th percentile
<$564ABS Census 2021$3,833+
Median house price-45% vs Greater Sydney · -1% vs Rest of NSW
SydneyRest of state
Greater Sydney $1.49M · Rest of NSW $825kFennell Bay $820k
Percentiles rank this suburb against New South Wales suburbs that carry the metric — never across states, and never against suburbs where it is missing. Price references are ABS median established-house transfer prices for the Mar 2026 quarter (CC BY 4.0); the suburb figure is a Valuer-General median over a different window, so read the gap as indicative. Income references are the Census 2021 median of the middle suburb in New South Wales and nationally, not a household-weighted median.
People & housing
Population
1,780
Median age
45 yrs
Income / person / wk
$700
Household income / wk
$1,375
▼ 13% vs NSW
Median rent / wk
$368
Mortgage / month
$1,734
Who lives here
- Couples with children
- 25%
- −8 pts vs NSW
- Living alone
- 27%
- +2 pts vs NSW
- Unemployment
- 5%
- level with NSW
- In the labour force
- 53%
- −5 pts vs NSW
- Bachelor degree or higher
- 15%
- −13 pts vs NSW
- Earning $1–$499 a week
- 26%
- +4 pts vs NSW
- Earning $2,000+ a week
- 7%
- −7 pts vs NSW
Households for the family mix, residents aged 15+ for work, education and income; unemployment is a share of the labour force. NSW figures weight each suburb by its dwellings or residents. ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0). Withheld for very small populations — under 100 residents, or under 50 dwellings, households or workers for the shares that count those.
Housing stock
698 occupied private dwellings
- Separate house 88%
- Flat or apartment 6%
- Semi, terrace & other 6%
NSW: 65% separate houses · 22% flats & apartments
- Owned outright 40%
- Mortgaged 34%
- Rented 24%
- Other & not stated 3%
NSW: 31% owned outright · 33% mortgaged · 33% rented
ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0). Withheld for very small populations — under 100 residents, or under 50 dwellings, households or workers for the shares that count those.
Socio-economic profile
IRSD
Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage
Score 959
Measures relative socio-economic disadvantage only; a higher score means less disadvantage.
Within AustraliaDecile 3 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 3 of 10
IER
Economic Resources
Score 976
Measures access to economic resources, including income, housing costs and assets.
Within AustraliaDecile 3 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 3 of 10
IEO
Education and Occupation
Score 898
Measures relative education and occupation characteristics.
Within AustraliaDecile 2 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 2 of 10
Scores are standardised across Australia to a mean of 1,000 and a standard deviation of 100. Deciles run from 1 (most disadvantaged) to 10 (least disadvantaged).
Source: ABS SEIFA 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
Terrain & hazard exposure
Median elevation
27 m
range 0–84 m
Land below 5 m
3.5%
1.6% below 2 m
Shares are the proportion of the suburb's land area. Land where Landsat saw water in at least 1% of clear passes since 1987, excluding permanent water and filtered by DEA's confidence layer. Satellites miss flood peaks, so this is a floor, not a risk estimate; dense high-rise cores can still register tower shadow as water. No flood map lodged in the NSW planning instruments for most of this suburb; most councils keep theirs in a development control plan. Designated for development control; a designation, not a prediction of fire behaviour. Elevation is orthometric height from a 30 m model; no hydrology or drainage is modelled.
Planning & zoning
Zoning mix (share of the suburb's land)
Show on map →- Rural58%
- Low-density residential27%
- General / medium / high-density residential6.3%
- Infrastructure & special purpose3.8%
- Open space & recreation2.9%
- Conservation1.6%
- Waterways0.8%
- Centres & mixed use0.3%
In a heritage area
0%
conservation area / Heritage Overlay
Show on map →Listed heritage places
1
items in the LEP heritage schedule
Max building height
8.5 m
typical; up to 11 m
Minimum lot size
450 m²
to subdivide residential land
Planning instrument: Lake Macquarie Local Environmental Plan 2014. Zones are grouped into ten families so states compare; the council's own scheme is the authority for any one lot. Height, floor space ratio and lot size are the NSW Local Environmental Plan standards: the area-weighted median over the residential-zoned land where the LEP maps that standard, given only where it maps it on at least half of that land; clause-based exceptions are not modelled. Not given because the LEP maps it on under half of the suburb's residential land (usually only its centres): floor space ratio (0%). Listed-place counts follow each state's own list, so they do not compare across states. Source: NSW EPI Land Zoning; NSW EPI Heritage; NSW EPI Height of Buildings, Floor Space Ratio and Lot Size.
Local amenities
Schools
1
Supermarkets
0
Pubs & bars
0
Parks
2
Libraries
0
GP clinics
0
Pharmacies
0
Hospitals
0
Nearest supermarket
3.2 km
Nearest train
1.6 km
Nearest hospital
4.6 km
Distance to coast
1.0 km
NBN
FIXED LINE
Amenity counts via © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) & Geoscience Australia HealthDirect (CC BY 4.0). Distance to coast derived from ABS state boundaries (CC BY 4.0).
Culture & community
- Dominant religion
- No religion · 41%
- Top language at home
- Afrikaans · 0%
- No religion
- 41%
- Born overseas
- 11%
- English only at home
- 95%
Schools by sector
- Government / Catholic / Indep.
- 1 / 0 / 0
- Primary / Secondary
- 1 / 0
- Nearest secondary
- 1.3 km
School sector & type: ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority), School Location dataset.
Local council
- Council (LGA)
- Lake Macquarie
- Population
- 224,540 (2025) · +1.1% in a year
- Area / density
- 649 km² · 346/km²
- Council medians (2021)
- age 42 · $1,623/wk household income · $375/wk rent
- Council-wide house median (2023-24)
- $880k
- Federal grants
- $21.21M in 2025-26 · $94/resident
- Website
- lakemac.com.au
Council boundaries and the suburb split: ABS ASGS LGA 2024, allocated by 2021 mesh block and weighted by Census 2021 residents. Population: ABS Estimated Resident Population 2025. Medians: ABS Census 2021. House median: ABS Data by Region, established-house transfers across the whole council, financial year 2023-24. Federal grants: Financial Assistance Grants, Dept of Infrastructure. ABS and Dept of Infrastructure data CC BY 4.0; council website from Wikidata (CC0).
Representation
- Federal division
- Hunter
- Federal MP
- Dan Repacholi (ALP)
- Two-party-preferred
- Labor 59% 2PP
- State electorate
- Lake Macquarie
- State MP
- Greg Piper (IND)
Comparable suburbs
Closest by median house price across NSW.
Similar suburbs
Closest demographic & amenity profile, nationally.
Sources: ABS ASGS boundaries (CC BY 4.0); ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0); New South Wales Valuer-General settled transfers (CC BY 4.0); ACARA School Locations (CC BY 4.0); © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); Australian Electoral Commission (CC BY 4.0); Geoscience Australia 1 Second DEM-S (CC BY 4.0); DEA Water Observations Statistics, Geoscience Australia (CC BY 4.0); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Flood, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY 4.0); NSW Bush Fire Prone Land, NSW Rural Fire Service (CC BY 4.0); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Land Zoning, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Heritage, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Height of Buildings, Floor Space Ratio and Minimum Lot Size, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); Wikipedia state-member tables (CC BY-SA 4.0). Not financial advice.