Deepdene vs East Melbourne

The median house price is $3.3M in Deepdene and $3.0M in East Melbourne, so East Melbourne is the cheaper entry point, with Deepdene houses about 9% dearer.

For units, Deepdene sits at a median of $970K against $720K in East Melbourne, which makes East Melbourne the more affordable unit market and Deepdene the pricier one.

On cash flow, East Melbourne leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.15%, compared with 1.90% in Deepdene, a gap of 0.25 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -11.9% in Deepdene (an estimate) and +1.6% in East Melbourne, so recent momentum favours East Melbourne, while Deepdene went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in East Melbourne and 1.9% in Deepdene, so landlords in East Melbourne face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

East Melbourne is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,896 against 2,101, roughly 2.3 times the size of Deepdene; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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