Brisbane City vs Ferny Hills

The median house price is $1.2M in Brisbane City and $1.2M in Ferny Hills, so Ferny Hills is the cheaper entry point, with Brisbane City houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Brisbane City leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.36%, compared with 3.30% in Ferny Hills, a gap of 0.06 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +19.2% in Brisbane City and +13.7% in Ferny Hills, so recent momentum favours Brisbane City, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Brisbane City houses are +61.3% and Ferny Hills houses +39.5%, so Brisbane City has compounded faster than Ferny Hills over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Brisbane City and 1.6% in Ferny Hills, so landlords in Brisbane City face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Brisbane City is the bigger suburb, with a population of 12,587 against 8,726, larger than Ferny Hills; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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