Athelstone vs Myrtle Bank

For units, Athelstone sits at a median of $630K against $760K in Myrtle Bank, which makes Athelstone the more affordable unit market and Myrtle Bank the pricier one.

On cash flow, Athelstone leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.30%, compared with 2.52% in Myrtle Bank, a gap of 0.78 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +14.1% in Athelstone and +11.8% in Myrtle Bank (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Athelstone, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Myrtle Bank and 0.5% in Athelstone, so landlords in Myrtle Bank face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Athelstone is the bigger suburb, with a population of 9,601 against 3,158, roughly 3.0 times the size of Myrtle Bank; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Athelstone for rental income, Athelstone for recent price momentum, Myrtle Bank for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.