Alfred Cove vs Roebuck

For units, Alfred Cove sits at a median of $740K against $330K in Roebuck, which makes Roebuck the more affordable unit market and Alfred Cove the pricier one.

On cash flow, Roebuck leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 6.36%, compared with 3.10% in Alfred Cove, a gap of 3.26 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +11.9% in Alfred Cove and +8.2% in Roebuck, so recent momentum favours Alfred Cove, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alfred Cove houses are +59.5% and Roebuck houses -16.1%, so Alfred Cove has compounded faster than Roebuck over the longer window.

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

Alfred Cove is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,830 against 606, roughly 4.7 times the size of Roebuck; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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