Kiama's homes and weather
Heritage in the middle of town
The Collins Street wooden terraces (24 to 40 and 42 to 44 Collins Street) are on the NSW State Heritage Register, along with the Kiama Post Office, the CBC Bank Building in Manning Street and the Scots Presbyterian Church.
Fewer separate houses than the region
At the 2021 Census, 55.4% of occupied homes in the suburb were separate houses, against 71.7% across the Illawarra. 24.1% were semis, terraces or townhouses and 19.2% flats or apartments.
Beaches, coves and the Blowhole
Kiama, 120 km south of Sydney, has the Blowhole, surf beaches such as Surf Beach and Boyds' Beach, and coves between the headlands like Black Beach, Easts Beach and Kendalls Beach.
Mild and damp
January afternoons average 69% humidity at the Kiama Bowling Club station, and its record low is only 2.3 degrees.
A town that fills up in summer
Wikipedia says the population triples in summer, and 628 of the suburb's private dwellings (16.3%) were empty on census night 2021. The median age was 52.
In a heritage terrace or old building
If your home is heritage-listed, talk to Kiama Municipal Council before anyone drills. The questions are usually where the outdoor unit and pipes can go without changing what the street sees. A rear courtyard or side passage can often take the outdoor unit out of view.
Ask for an installer who has worked on old buildings. They'll plan the pipe run through a back wall where possible and keep the condensate drain (the small pipe that carries water away from the indoor unit) out of sight.
In a unit or townhouse
With more than four in ten homes in the suburb attached or in a block, strata approval comes up constantly. In NSW, a reverse cycle installation counts as a minor renovation that needs a strata meeting vote, and work that changes the outside of the building can need a special resolution. Our apartments and strata page walks through it. NSW's Noise Control Regulation 2026 also limits when a unit can run if it's heard in a neighbour's rooms.
Close to the sea
Several warranties put corrosion protection near the sea on the owner. Carrier's certificate, for one, makes the purchaser responsible for extra protection if the unit is installed close to the sea. Read the clause for the exact model, put the unit on the sheltered side, and book a yearly Wollongong service.
What we'd do
If we lived in Kiama
We'd settle where the outdoor unit can go before choosing a model, with the council for a heritage home or the strata committee for a unit. Then we'd pick a modest reverse cycle system, sized for humid summers rather than oversized, since Rinnai says an oversized unit dehumidifies less effectively.
