Carrum vs Chelsea

The median house price is $1.1M in Carrum and $1.1M in Chelsea, so Carrum is the cheaper entry point, with Chelsea houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Carrum sits at a median of $830K against $745K in Chelsea, which makes Chelsea the more affordable unit market and Carrum the pricier one.

On cash flow, Carrum leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.33%, compared with 3.25% in Chelsea, a gap of 0.08 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.9% in Carrum and +8.1% in Chelsea (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Carrum, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.2% in Carrum and 1.3% in Chelsea, so landlords in Carrum face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Chelsea is the bigger suburb, with a population of 8,347 against 4,239, larger than Carrum; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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