Len Reinking describes Caringbah South as massively house proud. He should know. The handyman and owner of Lenny's Handyman Services typically spends a few days a week working in the peninsula suburb on Port Hacking.
He singles out Telopea Avenue as a favourite spot.
"It's a nice wide road. All the homes have big blocks and people are out walking their dogs - they're mobile and energetic. It's a really nice area," says Reinking.
Caringbah South has undergone a dramatic transformation since its first wave of residential development after World War II.
Over the past two decades, the "great Australian dream" fibro homes on quarter-acre blocks have been slowly but surely knocked down for more contemporary builds.
Justin Ressler of Ressler Property in Caringbah says the pace of development has quickened over the past two to three years as owners realise the potential in subdividing their land to build duplexes.
"A standard duplex in the area is four-bedroom side-by-side with a common wall in the middle, a single garage and two bathrooms."
It's not only Sutherland Shire locals getting in on the action.
Fed up with the cost and size of homes in the inner west and eastern suburbs, many buyers are heading south.
"A lot of mums and dads are staying in one half of the new duplex and renting or selling the other half."
Caringbah South offers waterfront blocks on its eastern and western edges, as well as a sliver of its southern border, and commands higher prices than Caringbah.
There's a cluster of shops on Port Hacking Road and a bigger selection nearby at Caringbah Shopping Centre. The area has an excellent selection of sporting fields and boating facilities.