Aberdare vs Brookvale

For units, Aberdare sits at a median of $550K against $1.0M in Brookvale, which makes Aberdare the more affordable unit market and Brookvale the pricier one.

On cash flow, Aberdare leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.10%, compared with 2.97% in Brookvale, a gap of 1.13 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +14.7% in Aberdare and +1.0% in Brookvale, so recent momentum favours Aberdare, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Aberdare houses are +32.0% and Brookvale houses +1.4%, so Aberdare has compounded faster than Brookvale over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Brookvale and 1.8% in Aberdare, so landlords in Brookvale face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Brookvale is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,389 against 2,542, larger than Aberdare; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Aberdare for rental income, Aberdare for recent price momentum, Brookvale for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.