Berwick vs Footscray

The median house price is $930K in Berwick and $935K in Footscray, so Berwick is the cheaper entry point, with Footscray houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Berwick sits at a median of $720K against $470K in Footscray, which makes Footscray the more affordable unit market and Berwick the pricier one.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.8% in Berwick and -0.9% in Footscray, so recent momentum favours Berwick, while Footscray went backwards.

Looking back three years, Berwick houses are +7.6% and Footscray houses +1.1%, so Berwick has compounded faster than Footscray over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.5% in Footscray and 2.3% in Berwick, so landlords in Footscray face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Berwick is the bigger suburb, with a population of 50,298 against 17,131, roughly 2.9 times the size of Footscray; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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