Blackmans Bay vs Boat Harbour

The median house price is $905K in Blackmans Bay and $910K in Boat Harbour, so Blackmans Bay is the cheaper entry point, with Boat Harbour houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Blackmans Bay sits at a median of $670K against $510K in Boat Harbour, which makes Boat Harbour the more affordable unit market and Blackmans Bay the pricier one.

On cash flow, Blackmans Bay leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.70%, compared with 1.98% in Boat Harbour, a gap of 1.72 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.0% in Blackmans Bay and +6.8% in Boat Harbour, so recent momentum favours Boat Harbour, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Blackmans Bay houses are +1.2% and Boat Harbour houses +5.5%, so Boat Harbour has compounded faster than Blackmans Bay over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.2% in Blackmans Bay and 4.6% in Boat Harbour, so landlords in Blackmans Bay face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Blackmans Bay is the bigger suburb, with a population of 7,688 against 339, roughly 23 times the size of Boat Harbour; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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