Crib Point vs Thomastown

The median house price is $785K in Crib Point and $780K in Thomastown, so Thomastown is the cheaper entry point, with Crib Point houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Crib Point sits at a median of $620K against $610K in Thomastown, which makes Thomastown the more affordable unit market and Crib Point the pricier one.

On cash flow, Crib Point leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.98%, compared with 3.62% in Thomastown, a gap of 0.36 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.5% in Crib Point (an estimate) and +5.1% in Thomastown, so recent momentum favours Thomastown, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Thomastown and 1.3% in Crib Point, so landlords in Thomastown face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Thomastown is the bigger suburb, with a population of 20,234 against 3,343, roughly 6 times the size of Crib Point; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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