Bentleigh East vs Thornbury

The median house price is $1.5M in Bentleigh East and $1.5M in Thornbury, so Thornbury is the cheaper entry point, with Bentleigh East houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Bentleigh East sits at a median of $1.2M against $715K in Thornbury, which makes Thornbury the more affordable unit market and Bentleigh East the pricier one.

Over the past year house prices moved -0.1% in Bentleigh East (an estimate) and +3.8% in Thornbury (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Thornbury, while Bentleigh East went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 1.4% in Thornbury and 2.0% in Bentleigh East, so landlords in Thornbury face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Bentleigh East is the bigger suburb, with a population of 30,159 against 19,005, larger than Thornbury; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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