Caves Beach vs Pemulwuy

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.4M in Caves Beach and $1.4M in Pemulwuy.

For units, Caves Beach sits at a median of $1.3M against $650K in Pemulwuy, which makes Pemulwuy the more affordable unit market and Caves Beach the pricier one.

On cash flow, Pemulwuy leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.60%, compared with 3.23% in Caves Beach, a gap of 0.37 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.0% in Caves Beach and +1.1% in Pemulwuy, so recent momentum favours Caves Beach, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Caves Beach houses are +24.3% and Pemulwuy houses +6.0%, so Caves Beach has compounded faster than Pemulwuy over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.9% in Caves Beach and 2.1% in Pemulwuy, so landlords in Caves Beach face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Pemulwuy is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,532 against 4,016, larger than Caves Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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