Culburra Beach vs Mayfield

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

On cash flow, Mayfield leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.47%, compared with 2.88% in Culburra Beach, a gap of 0.59 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.0% in Culburra Beach and +10.5% in Mayfield, so recent momentum favours Mayfield, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Culburra Beach houses are +12.1% and Mayfield houses +27.7%, so Mayfield has compounded faster than Culburra Beach over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Mayfield and 1.7% in Culburra Beach, so landlords in Mayfield face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mayfield is the bigger suburb, with a population of 9,760 against 2,946, roughly 3.3 times the size of Culburra Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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