Dulwich Hill vs Melrose Park

The median house price is $2.5M in Dulwich Hill and $2.5M in Melrose Park, so Melrose Park is the cheaper entry point, with Dulwich Hill houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Dulwich Hill sits at a median of $970K against $790K in Melrose Park, which makes Melrose Park the more affordable unit market and Dulwich Hill the pricier one.

On cash flow, Dulwich Hill leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.23%, compared with 1.84% in Melrose Park, a gap of 0.39 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +5.2% in Dulwich Hill (an estimate) and +0.0% in Melrose Park, so recent momentum favours Dulwich Hill, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Dulwich Hill and 1.2% in Melrose Park, so landlords in Dulwich Hill face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Dulwich Hill is the bigger suburb, with a population of 14,046 against 2,059, roughly 7 times the size of Melrose Park; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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