Artarmon vs Willoughby

The median house price is $3.6M in Artarmon and $3.6M in Willoughby, so Willoughby is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Artarmon sits at a median of $1.1M against $1.5M in Willoughby, which makes Artarmon the more affordable unit market and Willoughby the pricier one.

On cash flow, Artarmon leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.20%, compared with 1.94% in Willoughby, a gap of 0.26 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +0.2% in Artarmon (an estimate) and +1.1% in Willoughby, so recent momentum favours Willoughby, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Artarmon and 2.2% in Willoughby, so landlords in Artarmon face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Artarmon is the bigger suburb, with a population of 9,417 against 7,124, larger than Willoughby; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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