Bundoora vs Somerville

The median house price is $910K in Bundoora and $915K in Somerville, so Bundoora is the cheaper entry point, with Somerville houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Bundoora sits at a median of $505K against $630K in Somerville, which makes Bundoora the more affordable unit market and Somerville the pricier one.

On cash flow, Somerville leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.80%, compared with 3.44% in Bundoora, a gap of 0.36 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +1.8% in Bundoora (an estimate) and +6.8% in Somerville (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Somerville, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.3% in Somerville and 1.5% in Bundoora, so landlords in Somerville face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Bundoora is the bigger suburb, with a population of 28,068 against 11,767, roughly 2.4 times the size of Somerville; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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