Boolarra vs Melton South

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $585K in Boolarra and $585K in Melton South.

For units, Boolarra sits at a median of $330K against $410K in Melton South, which makes Boolarra the more affordable unit market and Melton South the pricier one.

On cash flow, Boolarra leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.31%, compared with 3.83% in Melton South, a gap of 0.48 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -3.8% in Boolarra (an estimate) and +10.7% in Melton South (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Melton South, while Boolarra went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 1.7% in Boolarra and 3.7% in Melton South, so landlords in Boolarra face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Melton South is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,362 against 1,023, roughly 11 times the size of Boolarra; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Boolarra for rental income, Melton South for recent price momentum, Boolarra for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.