Bonnet Bay vs Skennars Head

The median house price is $1.8M in Bonnet Bay and $1.8M in Skennars Head, so Bonnet Bay is the cheaper entry point.

On cash flow, Skennars Head leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.45%, compared with 3.06% in Bonnet Bay, a gap of 0.39 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.9% in Bonnet Bay and +6.7% in Skennars Head, so recent momentum favours Skennars Head, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Bonnet Bay houses are +10.7% and Skennars Head houses +16.1%, so Skennars Head has compounded faster than Bonnet Bay over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.9% in Skennars Head and 2.4% in Bonnet Bay, so landlords in Skennars Head face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Bonnet Bay is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,238 against 1,303, larger than Skennars Head; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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