Athelstone vs St Marys

The median house price is $1.1M in Athelstone and $1.0M in St Marys, so St Marys is the cheaper entry point, with Athelstone houses about 3% dearer.

For units, Athelstone sits at a median of $630K against $540K in St Marys, which makes St Marys the more affordable unit market and Athelstone the pricier one.

Over the past year house prices moved +14.1% in Athelstone and +11.7% in St Marys, so recent momentum favours Athelstone, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Athelstone houses are +41.1% and St Marys houses +30.9%, so Athelstone has compounded faster than St Marys over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.3% in St Marys and 0.5% in Athelstone, so landlords in St Marys 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 3,010, roughly 3.2 times the size of St Marys; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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