Bellara vs Kooralbyn

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $865K in Bellara and $865K in Kooralbyn.

For units, Bellara sits at a median of $650K against $365K in Kooralbyn, which makes Kooralbyn the more affordable unit market and Bellara the pricier one.

On cash flow, Bellara leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.95%, compared with 3.67% in Kooralbyn, a gap of 0.28 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.1% in Bellara and +11.6% in Kooralbyn, so recent momentum favours Bellara, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Bellara houses are +40.5% and Kooralbyn houses +45.9%, so Kooralbyn has compounded faster than Bellara over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Bellara and 1.2% in Kooralbyn, so landlords in Bellara face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Bellara is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,278 against 1,697, larger than Kooralbyn; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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