Darley vs Drouin

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $665K in Darley and $665K in Drouin.

For units, Darley sits at a median of $430K against $470K in Drouin, which makes Darley the more affordable unit market and Drouin the pricier one.

On cash flow, Drouin leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.50%, compared with 3.91% in Darley, a gap of 0.59 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +2.6% in Darley and +4.7% in Drouin, so recent momentum favours Drouin, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Darley houses are -5.9% and Drouin houses +4.6%, so Drouin has compounded faster than Darley over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.5% in Drouin and 1.8% in Darley, so landlords in Drouin face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Drouin is the bigger suburb, with a population of 15,287 against 9,190, larger than Darley; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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