Bonnie Doon vs Frenchville

The median house price is $705K in Bonnie Doon and $700K in Frenchville, so Frenchville is the cheaper entry point, with Bonnie Doon houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Bonnie Doon sits at a median of $765K against $785K in Frenchville, which makes Bonnie Doon the more affordable unit market and Frenchville the pricier one.

On cash flow, Bonnie Doon leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.39%, compared with 4.34% in Frenchville, a gap of 1.05 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.5% in Bonnie Doon and +15.7% in Frenchville, so recent momentum favours Frenchville, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Bonnie Doon houses are +13.1% and Frenchville houses +65.5%, so Frenchville has compounded faster than Bonnie Doon over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 2.1% in Bonnie Doon and 2.4% in Frenchville, so landlords in Bonnie Doon face less competition for tenants.

Frenchville is the bigger suburb, with a population of 8,982 against 563, roughly 16 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, Frenchville for a lower purchase price, Frenchville for recent price momentum, Bonnie Doon for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.