Alfred Cove vs Dunsborough

For units, Alfred Cove sits at a median of $740K against $835K in Dunsborough, which makes Alfred Cove the more affordable unit market and Dunsborough the pricier one.

On cash flow, Alfred Cove leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.10%, compared with 2.53% in Dunsborough, a gap of 0.57 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +11.9% in Alfred Cove and +19.6% in Dunsborough, so recent momentum favours Dunsborough, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alfred Cove houses are +59.5% and Dunsborough houses +58.8%, so Alfred Cove has compounded faster than Dunsborough over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Dunsborough and 1.1% in Alfred Cove, so landlords in Dunsborough face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Dunsborough is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,413 against 2,830, roughly 2.3 times the size of Alfred Cove; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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