Buninyong vs Mernda

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $750K in Buninyong and $750K in Mernda.

For units, Buninyong sits at a median of $455K against $500K in Mernda, which makes Buninyong the more affordable unit market and Mernda the pricier one.

On cash flow, Mernda leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.81%, compared with 3.35% in Buninyong, a gap of 0.46 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +10.3% in Buninyong and +4.9% in Mernda (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Buninyong, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.4% in Buninyong and 2.0% in Mernda, so landlords in Buninyong face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mernda is the bigger suburb, with a population of 23,369 against 3,797, roughly 6 times the size of Buninyong; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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