Albion Park vs Murwillumbah

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $980K in Albion Park and $980K in Murwillumbah.

For units, Albion Park sits at a median of $780K against $500K in Murwillumbah, which makes Murwillumbah the more affordable unit market and Albion Park the pricier one.

On cash flow, Murwillumbah leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.20%, compared with 4.00% in Albion Park, a gap of 0.20 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.1% in Albion Park and +8.9% in Murwillumbah, so recent momentum favours Albion Park, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Albion Park houses are +11.3% and Murwillumbah houses +27.3%, so Murwillumbah has compounded faster than Albion Park over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.2% in Murwillumbah and 0.8% in Albion Park, so landlords in Murwillumbah face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Albion Park is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,826 against 7,616, larger than Murwillumbah; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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