Altona vs Keilor

The median house price is $1.2M in Altona and $1.2M in Keilor, so Altona is the cheaper entry point, with Keilor houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Altona sits at a median of $725K against $670K in Keilor, which makes Keilor the more affordable unit market and Altona the pricier one.

On cash flow, Altona leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.12%, compared with 2.91% in Keilor, a gap of 0.21 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +1.3% in Altona (an estimate) and +4.7% in Keilor (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Keilor, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.5% in Keilor and 1.8% in Altona, so landlords in Keilor face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Altona is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,490 against 5,906, larger than Keilor; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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