Armadale vs Malvern East

The median house price is $2.2M in Armadale and $2.1M in Malvern East, so Malvern East is the cheaper entry point, with Armadale houses about 5% dearer.

For units, Armadale sits at a median of $680K against $635K in Malvern East, which makes Malvern East the more affordable unit market and Armadale the pricier one.

Over the past year house prices moved -4.0% in Armadale and -6.7% in Malvern East, so recent momentum favours Armadale, while Malvern East went backwards.

Looking back three years, Armadale houses are -20.3% and Malvern East houses -2.9%, so Malvern East has compounded faster than Armadale over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.4% in Armadale and 2.5% in Malvern East, so landlords in Armadale face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Malvern East is the bigger suburb, with a population of 22,296 against 9,368, roughly 2.4 times the size of Armadale; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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