Arana Hills is almost entirely a residential suburb, with 20% of its area as parkland. It has a mixture of 1960s-style chamferboard timber houses and more contemporary brick housing built upon steep hills, some with lovely city views. Some of the newer housing has been built on land in the northern part of the suburb adjacent to the land previously held by the Railways as a timber reserve, and which is now Bunyaville State Forestry Park. In this Arlington chain of estates developed in the early 1990s, it is still common to see horse riders around the Collins Road area, ducks and their ducklings crossing busy roads and the occasional koala perched high up in the many trees in the district.