Craignish vs Mount Lofty

The median house price is $1.1M in Craignish and $1.1M in Mount Lofty, so Craignish is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Craignish sits at a median of $570K against $640K in Mount Lofty, which makes Craignish the more affordable unit market and Mount Lofty the pricier one.

On cash flow, Craignish leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.62%, compared with 3.00% in Mount Lofty, a gap of 0.62 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +10.4% in Craignish (an estimate) and +14.9% in Mount Lofty, so recent momentum favours Mount Lofty, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Mount Lofty and 1.2% in Craignish, so landlords in Mount Lofty face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mount Lofty is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,825 against 2,190, larger than Craignish; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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