Bulla vs Northcote

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.7M in Bulla and $1.7M in Northcote.

For units, Bulla sits at a median of $650K against $680K in Northcote, which makes Bulla the more affordable unit market and Northcote the pricier one.

On cash flow, Northcote leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.71%, compared with 1.87% in Bulla, a gap of 0.84 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -10.6% in Bulla and +3.1% in Northcote (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Northcote, while Bulla went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 1.3% in Northcote and 2.6% in Bulla, so landlords in Northcote face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Northcote is the bigger suburb, with a population of 25,276 against 668, roughly 38 times the size of Bulla; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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