Curl Curl vs Darling Point

The median house price is $4.2M in Curl Curl and $4.1M in Darling Point, so Darling Point is the cheaper entry point, with Curl Curl houses about 2% dearer.

On cash flow, Curl Curl leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.07%, compared with 2.67% in Darling Point, a gap of 0.40 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.2% in Curl Curl (an estimate) and -21.0% in Darling Point (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Curl Curl, while Darling Point went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 1.5% in Curl Curl and 3.8% in Darling Point, so landlords in Curl Curl face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Darling Point is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,977 against 2,364, larger than Curl Curl; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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