Carnegie vs Murrumbeena

The median house price is $1.7M in Carnegie and $1.6M in Murrumbeena, so Murrumbeena is the cheaper entry point, with Carnegie houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Carnegie leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.86%, compared with 2.52% in Murrumbeena, a gap of 0.34 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +1.0% in Carnegie and +0.0% in Murrumbeena, so recent momentum favours Carnegie, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Carnegie houses are +0.1% and Murrumbeena houses +0.0%, so Carnegie has compounded faster than Murrumbeena over the longer window.

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

Carnegie is the bigger suburb, with a population of 17,909 against 9,996, larger than Murrumbeena; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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