Allenby Gardens vs Hawthorndene

The median house price is $1.2M in Allenby Gardens and $1.2M in Hawthorndene, so Allenby Gardens is the cheaper entry point, with Hawthorndene houses about 3% dearer.

On cash flow, Allenby Gardens leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.28%, compared with 3.02% in Hawthorndene, a gap of 0.26 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.0% in Allenby Gardens and +11.2% in Hawthorndene, so recent momentum favours Hawthorndene, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Allenby Gardens houses are +33.1% and Hawthorndene houses +38.0%, so Hawthorndene has compounded faster than Allenby Gardens over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.3% in Allenby Gardens and 0.8% in Hawthorndene, so landlords in Allenby Gardens face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Hawthorndene is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,389 against 2,045, larger than Allenby Gardens; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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