Bonnie Doon vs Gympie

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $705K in Bonnie Doon and $705K in Gympie.

For units, Bonnie Doon sits at a median of $765K against $550K in Gympie, which makes Gympie the more affordable unit market and Bonnie Doon the pricier one.

On cash flow, Bonnie Doon leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.39%, compared with 4.39% in Gympie, a gap of 1.00 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.5% in Bonnie Doon and +18.1% in Gympie, so recent momentum favours Gympie, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Bonnie Doon houses are +13.1% and Gympie houses +48.3%, so Gympie has compounded faster than Bonnie Doon over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in Gympie and 2.1% in Bonnie Doon, so landlords in Gympie face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Gympie is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,355 against 563, roughly 20 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, Gympie for recent price momentum, Gympie for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.