Culburra Beach vs Mardi

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.1M in Culburra Beach and $1.1M in Mardi.

On cash flow, Mardi leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.80%, compared with 2.88% in Culburra Beach, a gap of 0.92 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.0% in Culburra Beach and +8.0% in Mardi, so recent momentum favours Mardi, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Culburra Beach houses are +12.1% and Mardi houses +20.9%, so Mardi has compounded faster than Culburra Beach over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.4% in Mardi and 1.7% in Culburra Beach, so landlords in Mardi face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mardi is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,598 against 2,946, larger than Culburra Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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