Alderley vs Mooloolaba

For units, Alderley sits at a median of $855K against $885K in Mooloolaba, which makes Alderley the more affordable unit market and Mooloolaba the pricier one.

On cash flow, Mooloolaba leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.60%, compared with 2.46% in Alderley, a gap of 0.14 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.7% in Alderley and +12.0% in Mooloolaba, so recent momentum favours Alderley, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alderley houses are +35.9% and Mooloolaba houses +22.7%, so Alderley has compounded faster than Mooloolaba over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Mooloolaba and 1.8% in Alderley, so landlords in Mooloolaba face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mooloolaba is the bigger suburb, with a population of 8,202 against 6,748, larger than Alderley; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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