Alice River vs Caloundra West

The median house price is $1M in Alice River and $1.0M in Caloundra West, so Alice River is the cheaper entry point, with Caloundra West houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Alice River sits at a median of $520K against $780K in Caloundra West, which makes Alice River the more affordable unit market and Caloundra West the pricier one.

On cash flow, Caloundra West leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.98%, compared with 3.73% in Alice River, a gap of 0.25 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +19.8% in Alice River and +17.5% in Caloundra West, so recent momentum favours Alice River, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Alice River houses are +39.3% and Caloundra West houses +34.2%, so Alice River has compounded faster than Caloundra West over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Caloundra West and 2.4% in Alice River, so landlords in Caloundra West face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Caloundra West is the bigger suburb, with a population of 7,270 against 2,685, roughly 2.7 times the size of Alice River; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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