Shell Cove (NSW 2529): property prices, streets & suburb profile

Shell Cove house and unit prices

The median Shell Cove house sold for $1,435,000 across the last 24 months; constant-quality growth is +94.4% over 10 years and +37.4% over 5 years.

• The headline growth figure uses a repeat-sales index of all dwellings (the same homes resold), which removes mix-of-what-sold noise; the tiles compare 12-month medians per dwelling type, so the two can differ, and differ widely where what sold changed.
• Unit medians are yearly because strata volumes are low; treat them as indicative.
• Quarters with fewer than three house sales are left off the chart; one sale does not make a market median.

Shell Cove street by street

Across the 49 Shell Cove streets that qualify for the ranking, five-year medians run from $890,000 on Dunmore Road to $1,910,000 on Red Sands Avenue.

• A street needs at least 5 sales of a type in 10 years to get a median, so streets quieter than that are left out entirely.
• Sales that moved several properties on one dealing are left out, because the record repeats that dealing's whole price against every property in it.
• The highlight cards rank on house sales only, using each street's last-5-years median (at least 5 sales in that window), so unit-heavy streets are not mislabelled as cheap and the figures reflect prices a buyer could pay now; the table shows the full 10-year view.
• A street is left out of the ranking when its five-year median sits below three-fifths of its own 10-year median, or far below the suburb's median (a bar set higher for streets with no older sales of their own to stand behind them). Those windows are usually land sold before the houses went up, or a part share of a home priced as though it were the whole. Those streets stay in the table with their 10-year median.
• Prices are as-paid and not inflation-adjusted.

What buyers paid in Shell Cove

Half of the 251 house sales in the last 24 months landed between $1,275,000 and $1,697,500.

• House sales only, 24 months. The unit median is quoted separately.
• Chart covers $750,000 to $2,250,000: 19 of the 251 house sales fall outside it (the cheapest and dearest few) and are left out so a handful of outliers cannot distort the shape.

Rent in Shell Cove by bedrooms

A 3-bedroom house rents for a median $760/wk.

• From NSW rental bond lodgements for postcode 2529 (covers neighbouring suburbs too), 12 months to July 2026.
• Bands with fewer than 10 bonds are hidden.
• Biggest 12-month move: 5-bedroom houses +25.6% year on year.

Who lives in Shell Cove

Shell Cove has a median age of 40 and a median household income of $2,452 a week, and 77.4% of homes are owner-occupied.

• Figures labelled Shell Cove are for the suburb boundary itself (ABS 2021 Census). Anything labelled SA2 or postcode covers a wider area: SA2 "Shellharbour - Flinders" and postcode 2529 both extend beyond Shell Cove.
• SEIFA decile 1 is the lowest tenth of Australian areas on that index and 10 the highest. The four indices measure different things and often disagree, which is why all four are shown: a suburb can rank high on education and occupation while ranking mid on economic resources.

Bushfire, flood and planning in Shell Cove

24.5% of Shell Cove properties sit in a mapped bushfire-prone area; no flood mapping is available in our dataset for this suburb.

• Bushfire-prone land is the NSW RFS certified map; being inside it triggers extra building requirements, not a prediction of fire.
• Absence of flood mapping in our dataset is NOT evidence a property cannot flood: always order a council s10.7 certificate before buying.

Schools serving Shell Cove

Most Shell Cove homes fall in the Shell Cove Public School intake zone.

• ICSEA is ACARA's socio-educational index (average 1000). It describes the family backgrounds of the students enrolled, NOT how well a school teaches: a lower ICSEA means a less advantaged intake, not a worse school.
• Percentiles are ACARA's own national ranking, so the Australia bar is a published figure rather than our arithmetic. Each area shows the median of the mainstream schools sitting inside it; special schools are listed in the table but excluded from the medians.
• Catchments are NSW Department of Education intake zones; always confirm an address with the school.

Crime and safety around Shell Cove

Break-ins, car theft and malicious damage run at 1,373 per 100,000 residents in postcode 2529, 8.6% below the NSW rate of 1,502.

• Counts are BOCSAR recorded incidents for January 2025 to December 2025 at LGA and postcode grain: both cover several suburbs, so they include neighbours of Shell Cove.
• Rates divide incidents by resident population (ABS 2021 Census), so they are comparable between areas in a way raw counts are not. Every tier uses the same offences and the same 12 months for January 2025 to December 2025.
• Two limits worth knowing: the rate counts residents only, so a postcode with a town centre, nightlife strip or shopping precinct carries crime generated by visitors against a small resident denominator and reads high; and the population is the 2021 Census, so a suburb that has grown fast since then reads high too.

Recent house sales in Shell Cove

The most recent house sales on record in Shell Cove are from 2026, 42 of them. Search a street to see what it has been fetching.

One row per house sale on record for the last five years, by street and the year it sold. Sale prices are as paid. Part shares and multi-property dealings are excluded, and unit sales are not included here.

Suburbs near Shell Cove

Shell Cove's median house price of $1,435,000 is the 8th highest of the 66 Illawarra & South Coast suburbs we cover.

• Albion Park 2527

  $920,000 median house price

• Albion Park Rail 2527

  $845,000 median house price

• Badagarang 2540

  $515,000 median house price

• Balgownie 2519

  $1,400,000 median house price

• Barrack Heights 2528

  $889,000 median house price

• Batehaven 2536

  $784,500 median house price

• Batemans Bay 2536

  $762,500 median house price

• Bega 2550

  $635,000 median house price

All Illawarra & South Coast suburb research

Shell Cove: common questions

What is the median house price in Shell Cove?

$1,435,000, based on 251 house sales over the 24 months to July 2026 (NSW Valuer General records).

What are the most and least expensive streets in Shell Cove?

Of the 49 Shell Cove streets that qualify for the five-year ranking, Red Sands Avenue has the highest house median at $1,910,000 (8 sales); Dunmore Road has the lowest at $890,000 (17 sales).

How much have Shell Cove property prices grown?

A repeat-sales index of Shell Cove dwellings has risen 94.4% over 10 years and moved +37.4% over 5 years.

What does it cost to rent in Shell Cove?

The median 3-bedroom house in postcode 2529 rents for $760/wk, from 212 bonds lodged in the last 12 months.

Which public schools serve Shell Cove?

Shell Cove Public School (primary, zoned for 84% of homes); Shellharbour Public School (primary, zoned for 16% of homes); Warilla High School (secondary).

Is Shell Cove affected by bushfire or flood risk?

24.5% of properties sit in the NSW RFS bushfire-prone land map. No flood mapping is available in our dataset for this suburb; that is not evidence properties cannot flood; check a council s10.7 certificate.

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