Alfred Cove vs Parkwood

For units, Alfred Cove sits at a median of $740K against $710K in Parkwood, which makes Parkwood the more affordable unit market and Alfred Cove the pricier one.

On cash flow, Parkwood leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.12%, compared with 3.10% in Alfred Cove, a gap of 1.02 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +11.9% in Alfred Cove and +19.7% in Parkwood, so recent momentum favours Parkwood, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alfred Cove houses are +59.5% and Parkwood houses +66.2%, so Parkwood has compounded faster than Alfred Cove over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.9% in Parkwood and 1.1% in Alfred Cove, so landlords in Parkwood face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Parkwood is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,995 against 2,830, roughly 2.1 times the size of Alfred Cove; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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