Bonnie Doon vs Eimeo

The median house price is $705K in Bonnie Doon and $710K in Eimeo, so Bonnie Doon is the cheaper entry point, with Eimeo houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Bonnie Doon sits at a median of $765K against $775K in Eimeo, which makes Bonnie Doon the more affordable unit market and Eimeo the pricier one.

On cash flow, Bonnie Doon leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.39%, compared with 5.20% in Eimeo, a gap of 0.19 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.5% in Bonnie Doon and +9.2% in Eimeo, so recent momentum favours Eimeo, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Bonnie Doon houses are +13.1% and Eimeo houses +53.0%, so Eimeo has compounded faster than Bonnie Doon over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.7% in Eimeo and 2.1% in Bonnie Doon, so landlords in Eimeo face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Eimeo is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,285 against 563, roughly 6 times the size of Bonnie Doon; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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