Caloundra West vs Forest Lake

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.0M in Caloundra West and $1.0M in Forest Lake.

On cash flow, Caloundra West leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.98%, compared with 3.56% in Forest Lake, a gap of 0.42 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +17.5% in Caloundra West and +14.8% in Forest Lake, so recent momentum favours Caloundra West, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Caloundra West houses are +34.2% and Forest Lake houses +47.3%, so Forest Lake has compounded faster than Caloundra West over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Caloundra West and 1.4% in Forest Lake, so landlords in Caloundra West face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Forest Lake is the bigger suburb, with a population of 22,676 against 7,270, roughly 3.1 times the size of Caloundra West; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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