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Buckley vs South Melbourne

Property investment comparison - Buckley, VIC 3240 vs South Melbourne, VIC 3205

Head-to-head across core investment metrics: Buckley wins 1, South Melbourne wins 2. The better choice depends on whether you're optimising for cash flow, growth, affordability, or liquidity, the table below highlights the winner on each metric.

MetricBuckleySouth Melbourne
Median house price$1.6M$1.6M
Median unit price-$600K
Gross rental yield (houses)2.07%3.09%
Gross rental yield (units)-5.90%
1-year house growth-+0.4%estimate
3-year house growth--
Vacancy rate6.2%1.2%
Population22811,548

Buckley vs South Melbourne: what the numbers say

The median house price is $1.6M in Buckley and $1.6M in South Melbourne, so Buckley is the cheaper entry point, with South Melbourne houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, South Melbourne leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.09%, compared with 2.07% in Buckley, a gap of 1.02 percentage points.

Rental vacancy is 1.2% in South Melbourne and 6.2% in Buckley, so landlords in South Melbourne face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

South Melbourne is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,548 against 228, roughly 51 times the size of Buckley; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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

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