Bonnet Bay vs Wamberal

The median house price is $1.8M in Bonnet Bay and $1.8M in Wamberal, so Bonnet Bay is the cheaper entry point, with Wamberal houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Bonnet Bay sits at a median of $825K against $1.3M in Wamberal, which makes Bonnet Bay the more affordable unit market and Wamberal the pricier one.

On cash flow, Bonnet Bay leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.06%, compared with 2.60% in Wamberal, a gap of 0.46 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.9% in Bonnet Bay and +10.2% in Wamberal, so recent momentum favours Wamberal, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Bonnet Bay houses are +10.7% and Wamberal houses +7.7%, so Bonnet Bay has compounded faster than Wamberal over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 2.4% in Bonnet Bay and 2.6% in Wamberal, so landlords in Bonnet Bay face less competition for tenants.

Wamberal is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,991 against 2,238, roughly 3.1 times the size of Bonnet Bay; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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