Caddens vs Caves Beach

The median house price is $1.4M in Caddens and $1.4M in Caves Beach, so Caddens is the cheaper entry point, with Caves Beach houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Caddens sits at a median of $635K against $1.3M in Caves Beach, which makes Caddens the more affordable unit market and Caves Beach the pricier one.

On cash flow, Caddens leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.70%, compared with 3.23% in Caves Beach, a gap of 0.47 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.0% in Caddens and +7.0% in Caves Beach, so recent momentum favours Caddens, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Caddens houses are +14.5% and Caves Beach houses +24.3%, so Caves Beach has compounded faster than Caddens over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.9% in Caddens and 1.9% in Caves Beach, so landlords in Caddens face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Caves Beach is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,016 against 3,487, larger than Caddens; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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