Blackwood vs Macclesfield

The median house price is $1.1M in Blackwood and $1.1M in Macclesfield, so Macclesfield is the cheaper entry point, with Blackwood houses about 2% dearer.

For units, Blackwood sits at a median of $700K against $750K in Macclesfield, which makes Blackwood the more affordable unit market and Macclesfield the pricier one.

On cash flow, Macclesfield leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.40%, compared with 3.10% in Blackwood, a gap of 0.30 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.1% in Blackwood and +10.6% in Macclesfield, so recent momentum favours Macclesfield, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Blackwood houses are +39.4% and Macclesfield houses +44.9%, so Macclesfield has compounded faster than Blackwood over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Blackwood and 2.1% in Macclesfield, so landlords in Blackwood face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Blackwood is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,266 against 1,413, roughly 3.0 times the size of Macclesfield; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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