Bathurst vs Lismore Heights

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $690K in Bathurst and $690K in Lismore Heights.

For units, Bathurst sits at a median of $490K against $515K in Lismore Heights, which makes Bathurst the more affordable unit market and Lismore Heights the pricier one.

On cash flow, Lismore Heights leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.90%, compared with 4.22% in Bathurst, a gap of 0.68 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +5.7% in Bathurst and +7.5% in Lismore Heights (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Lismore Heights, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Lismore Heights and 1.2% in Bathurst, so landlords in Lismore Heights face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Bathurst is the bigger suburb, with a population of 7,001 against 2,117, roughly 3.3 times the size of Lismore Heights; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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