Cootamundra vs Parkes

The median house price is $475K in Cootamundra and $480K in Parkes, so Cootamundra is the cheaper entry point, with Parkes houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Cootamundra leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.35%, compared with 4.80% in Parkes, a gap of 0.55 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.1% in Cootamundra and +7.0% in Parkes, so recent momentum favours Cootamundra, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Cootamundra houses are +39.5% and Parkes houses -2.8%, so Cootamundra has compounded faster than Parkes over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.3% in Cootamundra and 2.7% in Parkes, so landlords in Cootamundra face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Parkes is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,324 against 6,885, larger than Cootamundra; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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