Cranbourne vs Curlewis

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $720K in Cranbourne and $720K in Curlewis.

For units, Cranbourne sits at a median of $540K against $730K in Curlewis, which makes Cranbourne the more affordable unit market and Curlewis the pricier one.

On cash flow, Curlewis leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.03%, compared with 3.97% in Cranbourne, a gap of 0.06 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.4% in Cranbourne and +8.0% in Curlewis, so recent momentum favours Curlewis, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Cranbourne houses are +9.9% and Curlewis houses +6.0%, so Cranbourne has compounded faster than Curlewis over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.6% in Curlewis and 1.9% in Cranbourne, so landlords in Curlewis face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Cranbourne is the bigger suburb, with a population of 21,281 against 4,175, roughly 5 times the size of Curlewis; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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