More than 1,000 volunteer fire-fighters were called into action on Sunday as bushfires fanned by hot winds of up to 100 kilometres an hour broke out in more 50 locations across the state.
A motorcyclist died when his bike was struck by a tree branch which fell during strong winds at Kangaroo Valley, on the south coast.
Rural Fire Service spokesman Cameron Wade says fire-fighters were assisted by a cool weather change late on Sunday.
Emergency crews worked through the night to contain the fires, including two of the most serious in the Picton and Cattai areas on Sydney's fringe.
More than 500 fire-fighters will continue back-burning today amid mild weather forecasts for Sydney.
The bushfires and winds caused power blackouts to more than 100,000 homes across the state in the southern highlands, Western Sydney and the south coast and burned out more than two thousand hectares of bushland.
Electricity was also cut to areas in Sydney's north and west, the Blue Mountains, and Central Coast.
Four houses were razed near Picton, southwest of Sydney, and three more were destroyed near Cattai, in Sydney's northwest.
Five fires were also burning in the Hunter Valley, one of which came within several hundred metres of property at Redhead, an outer southern suburb of Newcastle.
Homes at Burrill Lake near Ulladulla in the Shoalhaven district on the state's south coast were evacuated on Sunday as a large fire approached.
New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma will tour bushfire-ravaged areas on Sydney's outskirts today.
Mr Iemma will receive a bushfire briefing at the Wollondilly RFS Centre in Picton, in Sydney's south-west, before inspecting the fire damage with RFS Commissioner Phil Koperberg.