Boat Harbour vs Margate

The median house price is $910K in Boat Harbour and $925K in Margate, so Boat Harbour is the cheaper entry point, with Margate houses about 2% dearer.

For units, Boat Harbour sits at a median of $510K against $595K in Margate, which makes Boat Harbour the more affordable unit market and Margate the pricier one.

On cash flow, Margate leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.59%, compared with 1.98% in Boat Harbour, a gap of 1.61 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.8% in Boat Harbour and +7.3% in Margate (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Margate, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Margate and 4.6% in Boat Harbour, so landlords in Margate face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Margate is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,239 against 339, roughly 13 times the size of Boat Harbour; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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