Craigburn Farm vs West Beach

The median house price is $1.6M in Craigburn Farm and $1.6M in West Beach, so Craigburn Farm is the cheaper entry point, with West Beach houses about 3% dearer.

For units, Craigburn Farm sits at a median of $710K against $655K in West Beach, which makes West Beach the more affordable unit market and Craigburn Farm the pricier one.

On cash flow, West Beach leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.46%, compared with 2.37% in Craigburn Farm, a gap of 0.09 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +14.9% in Craigburn Farm (an estimate) and +11.1% in West Beach (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Craigburn Farm, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.3% in Craigburn Farm and 1.0% in West Beach, so landlords in Craigburn Farm face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

West Beach is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,175 against 3,099, larger than Craigburn Farm; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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