Blair Athol vs Hamilton

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.2M in Blair Athol and $1.2M in Hamilton.

For units, Blair Athol sits at a median of $530K against $770K in Hamilton, which makes Blair Athol the more affordable unit market and Hamilton the pricier one.

On cash flow, Hamilton leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.50%, compared with 3.05% in Blair Athol, a gap of 0.45 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.3% in Blair Athol and +7.2% in Hamilton, so recent momentum favours Blair Athol, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Blair Athol houses are +29.1% and Hamilton houses +16.5%, so Blair Athol has compounded faster than Hamilton over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Blair Athol and 1.4% in Hamilton, 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.

Hamilton is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,614 against 2,725, larger than Blair Athol; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Hamilton for rental income, Blair Athol 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.