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Culburra Beach vs Nelson Bay

Property investment comparison - Culburra Beach, NSW 2540 vs Nelson Bay, NSW 2315

Head-to-head across core investment metrics: Culburra Beach wins 1, Nelson Bay wins 3. The better choice depends on whether you're optimising for cash flow, growth, affordability, or liquidity, the table below highlights the winner on each metric.

MetricCulburra BeachNelson Bay
Median house price$1.1M$1.0M
Median unit price-$700K
Gross rental yield (houses)2.88%3.48%
Gross rental yield (units)-4.31%
1-year house growth+4.0%+0.1%estimate
3-year house growth+12.1%-
Vacancy rate1.7%1.6%
Population2,9466,141

Culburra Beach vs Nelson Bay: what the numbers say

The median house price is $1.1M in Culburra Beach and $1.0M in Nelson Bay, so Nelson Bay is the cheaper entry point.

On cash flow, Nelson Bay leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.48%, compared with 2.88% in Culburra Beach, a gap of 0.60 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.0% in Culburra Beach and +0.1% in Nelson Bay (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Culburra Beach, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.6% in Nelson Bay and 1.7% in Culburra Beach, so landlords in Nelson Bay face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Nelson Bay is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,141 against 2,946, roughly 2.1 times the size of Culburra Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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

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