Colo Vale vs Murwillumbah

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $980K in Colo Vale and $980K in Murwillumbah.

For units, Colo Vale sits at a median of $680K against $500K in Murwillumbah, which makes Murwillumbah the more affordable unit market and Colo Vale the pricier one.

On cash flow, Murwillumbah leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.20%, compared with 3.80% in Colo Vale, a gap of 0.40 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +2.7% in Colo Vale (an estimate) and +8.9% in Murwillumbah, so recent momentum favours Murwillumbah, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.2% in Murwillumbah and 3.1% in Colo Vale, so landlords in Murwillumbah face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Murwillumbah is the bigger suburb, with a population of 7,616 against 1,775, roughly 4.3 times the size of Colo Vale; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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