Bellambi vs Haywards Bay

The median house price is $1.3M in Bellambi and $1.3M in Haywards Bay, so Haywards Bay is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Bellambi sits at a median of $660K against $680K in Haywards Bay, which makes Bellambi the more affordable unit market and Haywards Bay the pricier one.

On cash flow, Bellambi leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.09%, compared with 2.87% in Haywards Bay, a gap of 0.22 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.4% in Bellambi (an estimate) and +21.8% in Haywards Bay, so recent momentum favours Haywards Bay, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Bellambi and 4.9% in Haywards Bay, so landlords in Bellambi face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Bellambi is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,039 against 1,280, roughly 3.2 times the size of Haywards Bay; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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