East Maitland vs Windermere Park

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $840K in East Maitland and $840K in Windermere Park.

On cash flow, East Maitland leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.07%, compared with 3.82% in Windermere Park, a gap of 0.25 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.6% in East Maitland and +11.2% in Windermere Park, so recent momentum favours East Maitland, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, East Maitland houses are +24.4% and Windermere Park houses +17.7%, so East Maitland has compounded faster than Windermere Park over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in East Maitland and 2.4% in Windermere Park, so landlords in East Maitland face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

East Maitland is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,860 against 722, roughly 16 times the size of Windermere Park; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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