Alderley vs Mount Coolum

For units, Alderley sits at a median of $855K against $935K in Mount Coolum, which makes Alderley the more affordable unit market and Mount Coolum the pricier one.

On cash flow, Mount Coolum leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.65%, compared with 2.46% in Alderley, a gap of 1.19 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.7% in Alderley and +10.1% in Mount Coolum, so recent momentum favours Alderley, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alderley houses are +35.9% and Mount Coolum houses +39.0%, so Mount Coolum has compounded faster than Alderley over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Mount Coolum and 1.8% in Alderley, so landlords in Mount Coolum 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 4,545, larger than Mount Coolum; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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