Alderley vs Coombabah

For units, Alderley sits at a median of $855K against $820K in Coombabah, which makes Coombabah the more affordable unit market and Alderley the pricier one.

On cash flow, Coombabah leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.55%, compared with 2.46% in Alderley, a gap of 1.09 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.7% in Alderley and +14.9% in Coombabah, so recent momentum favours Coombabah, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alderley houses are +35.9% and Coombabah houses +47.2%, so Coombabah has compounded faster than Alderley over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Coombabah and 1.8% in Alderley, so landlords in Coombabah face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Coombabah is the bigger suburb, with a population of 10,298 against 6,748, larger than Alderley; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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