Calamvale vs The Gap

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

For units, Calamvale sits at a median of $830K against $1.1M in The Gap, which makes Calamvale the more affordable unit market and The Gap the pricier one.

On cash flow, The Gap leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.18%, compared with 3.06% in Calamvale, a gap of 0.12 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +10.0% in Calamvale and +2.2% in The Gap, so recent momentum favours Calamvale, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Calamvale houses are +48.5% and The Gap houses +34.4%, so Calamvale has compounded faster than The Gap over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in The Gap and 1.2% in Calamvale, so landlords in The Gap face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Calamvale is the bigger suburb, with a population of 17,994 against 17,318, larger than The Gap; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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