Bald Hills vs Karana Downs

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.1M in Bald Hills and $1.1M in Karana Downs.

On cash flow, Karana Downs leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.54%, compared with 3.42% in Bald Hills, a gap of 0.12 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +16.2% in Bald Hills and +7.4% in Karana Downs, so recent momentum favours Bald Hills, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Bald Hills houses are +53.3% and Karana Downs houses +34.1%, so Bald Hills has compounded faster than Karana Downs over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.9% in Bald Hills and 1.5% in Karana Downs, so landlords in Bald Hills face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Bald Hills is the bigger suburb, with a population of 7,000 against 3,800, larger than Karana Downs; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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