Clarence Gardens vs Lockleys

The median house price is $1.5M in Clarence Gardens and $1.5M in Lockleys, so Clarence Gardens is the cheaper entry point, with Lockleys houses about 3% dearer.

On cash flow, Lockleys leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.60%, compared with 2.39% in Clarence Gardens, a gap of 0.21 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +16.9% in Clarence Gardens (an estimate) and +10.8% in Lockleys (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Clarence Gardens, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Clarence Gardens and 0.7% in Lockleys, so landlords in Clarence Gardens face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Lockleys is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,987 against 2,373, roughly 2.5 times the size of Clarence Gardens; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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