Blair Athol vs Grantham Farm

The median house price is $1.2M in Blair Athol and $1.2M in Grantham Farm, so Grantham Farm is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Blair Athol sits at a median of $530K against $860K in Grantham Farm, which makes Blair Athol the more affordable unit market and Grantham Farm the pricier one.

On cash flow, Grantham Farm leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.90%, compared with 3.05% in Blair Athol, a gap of 0.85 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.3% in Blair Athol and +10.1% in Grantham Farm (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Grantham Farm, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Blair Athol and 6.2% in Grantham Farm, so landlords in Blair Athol face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Grantham Farm is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,669 against 2,725, larger than Blair Athol; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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