Charlestown vs Oakdale

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.1M in Charlestown and $1.1M in Oakdale.

For units, Charlestown sits at a median of $730K against $720K in Oakdale, which makes Oakdale the more affordable unit market and Charlestown the pricier one.

On cash flow, Charlestown leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.50%, compared with 2.90% in Oakdale, a gap of 0.60 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +14.9% in Charlestown and +12.6% in Oakdale, so recent momentum favours Charlestown, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Charlestown houses are +24.0% and Oakdale houses +19.7%, so Charlestown has compounded faster than Oakdale over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Oakdale and 1.9% in Charlestown, so landlords in Oakdale face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Charlestown is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,601 against 2,028, roughly 7 times the size of Oakdale; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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