Cockatoo vs Skye

The median house price is $850K in Cockatoo and $860K in Skye, so Cockatoo is the cheaper entry point, with Skye houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Cockatoo sits at a median of $415K against $630K in Skye, which makes Cockatoo the more affordable unit market and Skye the pricier one.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.4% in Cockatoo and +8.2% in Skye, so recent momentum favours Skye, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Cockatoo houses are +7.9% and Skye houses +13.2%, so Skye has compounded faster than Cockatoo over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Cockatoo and 1.0% in Skye, so landlords in Cockatoo face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Skye is the bigger suburb, with a population of 8,088 against 4,408, larger than Cockatoo; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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