Bouvard vs Middle Swan

The median house price is $820K in Bouvard and $815K in Middle Swan, so Middle Swan is the cheaper entry point, with Bouvard houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Bouvard sits at a median of $425K against $545K in Middle Swan, which makes Bouvard the more affordable unit market and Middle Swan the pricier one.

On cash flow, Middle Swan leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.39%, compared with 4.15% in Bouvard, a gap of 0.24 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +5.4% in Bouvard (an estimate) and +22.6% in Middle Swan (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Middle Swan, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Middle Swan and 1.1% in Bouvard, so landlords in Middle Swan face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Middle Swan is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,852 against 910, roughly 3.1 times the size of Bouvard; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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