Alfredton vs Darley

The median house price is $660K in Alfredton and $665K in Darley, so Alfredton is the cheaper entry point, with Darley houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Alfredton sits at a median of $410K against $430K in Darley, which makes Alfredton the more affordable unit market and Darley the pricier one.

On cash flow, Darley leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.91%, compared with 3.78% in Alfredton, a gap of 0.13 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +10.9% in Alfredton and +2.6% in Darley, so recent momentum favours Alfredton, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alfredton houses are +3.1% and Darley houses -5.9%, so Alfredton has compounded faster than Darley over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.3% in Alfredton and 1.8% in Darley, so landlords in Alfredton face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Alfredton is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,822 against 9,190, larger than Darley; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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