Coniston vs Mayfield East

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.1M in Coniston and $1.1M in Mayfield East.

On cash flow, Coniston leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.60%, compared with 3.52% in Mayfield East, a gap of 0.08 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +0.6% in Coniston and +11.2% in Mayfield East, so recent momentum favours Mayfield East, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Coniston houses are +7.7% and Mayfield East houses +25.9%, so Mayfield East has compounded faster than Coniston over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Mayfield East and 1.2% in Coniston, so landlords in Mayfield East face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Coniston is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,267 against 1,794, larger than Mayfield East; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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