Altona North vs Rye

The median house price is $960K in Altona North and $950K in Rye, so Rye is the cheaper entry point, with Altona North houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Altona North sits at a median of $730K against $585K in Rye, which makes Rye the more affordable unit market and Altona North the pricier one.

On cash flow, Altona North leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.70%, compared with 3.38% in Rye, a gap of 0.32 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.2% in Altona North and -5.1% in Rye, so recent momentum favours Altona North, while Rye went backwards.

Looking back three years, Altona North houses are +8.2% and Rye houses -15.5%, so Altona North has compounded faster than Rye over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Altona North and 1.7% in Rye, so landlords in Altona North face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Altona North is the bigger suburb, with a population of 12,962 against 9,438, larger than Rye; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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