Alderley vs Marcoola

For units, Alderley sits at a median of $855K against $950K in Marcoola, which makes Alderley the more affordable unit market and Marcoola the pricier one.

On cash flow, Marcoola leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.32%, compared with 2.46% in Alderley, a gap of 0.86 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.7% in Alderley and +12.5% in Marcoola, so recent momentum favours Alderley, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alderley houses are +35.9% and Marcoola houses +13.5%, so Alderley has compounded faster than Marcoola over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Marcoola and 1.8% in Alderley, so landlords in Marcoola face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Alderley is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,748 against 3,355, roughly 2.0 times the size of Marcoola; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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