Blair Athol vs St Marys

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

For units, Blair Athol sits at a median of $530K against $715K in St Marys, which makes Blair Athol the more affordable unit market and St Marys the pricier one.

On cash flow, Blair Athol leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.05%, compared with 2.55% in St Marys, a gap of 0.50 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.3% in Blair Athol and +12.8% in St Marys, so recent momentum favours St Marys, although both suburbs recorded growth.

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

St Marys is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,256 against 2,725, roughly 4.9 times the size of Blair Athol; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Blair Athol for rental income, St Marys for a lower purchase price, St Marys 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.