Berkeley is a suburb of Wollongong, New South
Wales. Berkeley is located in Wollongong's
southern suburbs, on the northern shore of
Lake Illawarra, and is one of the city's most
populous suburbs. At the 2011 census, it had a
population of 7,427.
Historically a farming community situated
between the hills and Lake Illawarra, Berkeley
became one of the Illawarra's solutions to a
public housing shortage in the early years.
Subsequently several public housing
developments were established and most of
these are still in existence today in certain parts
of the suburb. To date approximately close to
one in four dwellings consist of public housing
owned by Housing NSW. Berkeley has however
enjoyed significant growth in the last two
decades, with younger working families moving
into the district in search of new homes.
Berkeley's distance from Wollongong and vast
space at the time identified it as an attractive
option to new families and today much of
the farmland are occupied by housing estates
marketed as Regency Heights.