Collaroy vs Randwick

The median house price is $3.8M in Collaroy and $3.8M in Randwick, so Randwick is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Collaroy sits at a median of $1.3M against $1.3M in Randwick, which makes Randwick the more affordable unit market and Collaroy the pricier one.

On cash flow, Collaroy leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.76%, compared with 2.07% in Randwick, a gap of 0.69 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +1.9% in Collaroy and +0.0% in Randwick, so recent momentum favours Collaroy, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Collaroy houses are +0.5% and Randwick houses +16.1%, so Randwick has compounded faster than Collaroy over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 2.2% in Collaroy and 2.4% in Randwick, so landlords in Collaroy face less competition for tenants.

Randwick is the bigger suburb, with a population of 28,943 against 7,944, roughly 3.6 times the size of Collaroy; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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