Waverley Infrastructure Projects, NSW

High-skill services and coastal retail shape Waverley, with current activity concentrated in Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach mixed-use, shop-top and transport access works.

Economic base

Waverley’s economy is shaped by a highly qualified resident workforce and a large base of service-sector businesses, rather than freight, industrial production or utilities. In 2021, professional, scientific and technical services accounted for 19.6% of employed residents, followed by financial and insurance services at 10.66%, health care and social assistance at 10.32%, education and training at 7.27%, construction at 6.71% and retail trade at 6.48%. Educational attainment is high, with 51.99% of residents holding a bachelor degree or higher. Median weekly household income was $2,854 and median weekly personal income was $1,442, consistent with a relatively affluent, white-collar catchment.

Business counts show the same service orientation. As at June 2025, Waverley had 11,429 registered businesses and 3,903 employing businesses. The largest registered business groups were professional, scientific and technical services with 2,527, rental, hiring and real estate services with 1,520, financial and insurance services with 1,134, health care and social assistance with 1,106 and construction with 1,051. Retail trade counted 673 registered businesses and accommodation and food services 438, which helps explain the importance of commercial strips and visitor-facing precincts. Labour market conditions were firm in 2026 Q1, with a labour force of 49,224 and unemployment of 2.6%. Population reached 73,345 in 2025, up 0.6%, with overseas migration offsetting net internal outflow.

Current project program

The current named project program is concentrated in private mixed-use, shop-top housing, office and hospitality works, mostly in Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach. Across the list there are 43 named projects: 18 active, 4 proposed and 21 completed. Retail-classified projects dominate, with 12 active, 4 proposed and 21 completed, while active non-retail works comprise four transport projects, one sport project and one school project. Larger current examples include the approved $67.2m shop top housing project in Bondi Junction, approved office premise projects at $30.6m in Bondi Junction, and proposed Bondi Beach shop top housing proposals at $42.2m, $20.3m and $15.1m.

Transport works form the main public infrastructure element. The largest listed project is the Pinch Point Program at $260.5m, under construction. Other active transport works are the Bondi Junction to Chatswood bus corridor, Waverley Bus Depot access changes, and the Bicycle Detection Trial at Bondi Junction and Surry Hills, which Transport for NSW says starts from mid-June 2026. Outside transport, active approvals include a $10.2m entertainment facility in Bondi Junction and a $5.1m school project in Waverley. Separately, non-residential building approvals totalled $324.3m in the latest 12 months to June 2026, equal to 1.79× Waverley’s own three-year average, which indicates elevated approved commercial and institutional work even though approvals are not construction or completion.

Economic connections

The clearest connection between Waverley’s economy and its current works is commercial and mixed-use renewal in Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach. Given the council’s large concentrations of professional services, finance, health, retail and accommodation businesses, repeated shop-top housing, office premise, pub and mixed-use approvals align with ongoing reinvestment in the local commercial fabric rather than a shift toward industrial activity. These projects could improve the quantity and quality of business space, refresh street-level retail and hospitality frontages, and add dwelling stock above centres, which is consistent with the needs of a dense services-oriented area. The high latest-year non-residential approvals figure also supports the view that commercial and institutional investment intentions remain active.

The second connection is access. Waverley’s active transport works are concentrated around bus priority, depot access and safer cycling at Bondi Junction, which supports movement into the council’s main commercial centre and onward links beyond it. The Bondi Junction to Chatswood bus corridor is explicitly aimed at bus reliability, while the bus depot access changes and bicycle detection trial point to incremental changes in network operation and intersection performance. In a compact council with substantial retail and hospitality activity, these measures may improve customer and worker access more than they affect freight. Current private approvals also imply near-term construction activity, which aligns with Waverley’s 1,051 registered construction businesses and 378 employing construction businesses, although business counts are not a measure of project delivery or jobs.

Outlook

Near-term direction depends less on a single catalytic asset and more on whether the current schedule of centre-based private projects converts from approvals and planning into actual delivery. Waverley already has a large stock of completed mixed-use and shop-top projects, and the current list shows that this pattern is continuing in Bondi Junction, Bondi Beach and Rose Bay. If more of the approved office, hospitality and shop-top schemes proceed, that would be consistent with continued centre renewal and incremental commercial densification. The approved school project also points to some added education capacity, while existing service infrastructure includes three hospitals, 68 childcare services with 4,504 places, and seven residential aged care homes with 476 places.

What to watch is straightforward: progress on transport delivery around Bondi Junction, movement of the larger proposed and approved private schemes, and whether elevated building approvals remain sustained. Population growth was modest at 0.6% in 2025, with overseas migration offsetting internal losses, so demand-side conditions are mixed rather than one-directional. Labour market strength remains a support factor, with unemployment at 2.6%, but the practical test for this council is whether access upgrades and centre-based redevelopment continue to reinforce Bondi Junction’s role as the main commercial node while Bondi Beach retains its hospitality and visitor-facing renewal pattern.

Key takeaways

• Waverley’s economic base is service-led and high-skill, with professional services the largest resident employment sector at 19.6%, supported by large business bases in professional services, finance, health and real estate.
• Current project activity is concentrated in Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach mixed-use, shop-top, office and hospitality schemes, with transport access works as the main public infrastructure component.
• Non-residential building approvals were $324.3m in the year to June 2026, 1.79× the council’s three-year average, which signals a high level of approved work but not completion.

Sources

• Professional, scientific and technical services — ABS Census 2021
• Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
• Estimated resident population — ABS Regional Population
• Financial and insurance services — ABS Census 2021
• Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
• Education and training — ABS Census 2021
• Construction — ABS Census 2021
• Retail trade — ABS Census 2021
• Bachelor degree or higher — ABS Census 2021
• Median household income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Median personal income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Employing businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Financial and Insurance Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Accommodation and Food Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Net internal migration — ABS Regional Population
• Net overseas migration — ABS Regional Population
• Pinch Point Program — Infrastructure Australia
• Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Shop top housing — NSW planning portal
• Office Premise — NSW planning portal
• Office Premise — NSW planning portal
• Shop top housing — NSW planning portal
• Demolition; Shop top housing — NSW planning portal
• Shop top housing — NSW planning portal
• Mixed use development — NSW planning portal
• Mixed use development — NSW planning portal
• Bondi Junction to Chatswood bus corridor — Transport for NSW
• Waverley Bus Depot access changes — Transport for NSW
• Bicycle Detection Trial – Bondi Junction and Surry Hills — Transport for NSW
• Entertainment facility — NSW planning portal
• School — NSW planning portal
• Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals
• Pub — NSW planning portal
• Pub — NSW planning portal
• Employing businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Open public and private hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Approved centre-based childcare services — ACECQA national register
• Approved childcare places — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care homes — AIHW GEN aged care
• Residential aged care places — AIHW GEN aged care