Charlemont vs Lucas

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $645K in Charlemont and $645K in Lucas.

For units, Charlemont sits at a median of $475K against $375K in Lucas, which makes Lucas the more affordable unit market and Charlemont the pricier one.

On cash flow, Charlemont leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.20%, compared with 3.91% in Lucas, a gap of 0.29 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +2.5% in Charlemont and +4.0% in Lucas, so recent momentum favours Lucas, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Charlemont houses are +4.9% and Lucas houses +0.8%, so Charlemont has compounded faster than Lucas over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Lucas and 2.4% in Charlemont, so landlords in Lucas face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Lucas is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,994 against 2,612, larger than Charlemont; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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