Alice River vs Cooran

The median house price is $1M in Alice River and $995K in Cooran, so Cooran is the cheaper entry point, with Alice River houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Alice River sits at a median of $520K against $700K in Cooran, which makes Alice River the more affordable unit market and Cooran the pricier one.

On cash flow, Alice River leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.73%, compared with 3.57% in Cooran, a gap of 0.16 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +19.8% in Alice River and +10.0% in Cooran (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Alice River, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 2.4% in Alice River and 3.3% in Cooran, so landlords in Alice River face less competition for tenants.

Alice River is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,685 against 1,756, larger than Cooran; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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