Elizabeth Downs vs Smithfield

The median house price is $625K in Elizabeth Downs and $655K in Smithfield, so Elizabeth Downs is the cheaper entry point, with Smithfield houses about 5% dearer.

On cash flow, Elizabeth Downs leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.20%, compared with 4.10% in Smithfield, a gap of 0.10 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +15.3% in Elizabeth Downs and +20.4% in Smithfield, so recent momentum favours Smithfield, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Elizabeth Downs houses are +60.8% and Smithfield houses +44.8%, so Elizabeth Downs has compounded faster than Smithfield over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in Smithfield and 1.2% in Elizabeth Downs, so landlords in Smithfield face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Elizabeth Downs is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,160 against 2,482, roughly 2.1 times the size of Smithfield; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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