Ellalong vs Metford

The median house price is $825K in Ellalong and $820K in Metford, so Metford is the cheaper entry point, with Ellalong houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Ellalong sits at a median of $470K against $540K in Metford, which makes Ellalong the more affordable unit market and Metford the pricier one.

On cash flow, Metford leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.15%, compared with 3.85% in Ellalong, a gap of 0.30 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +10.2% in Ellalong and +12.1% in Metford, so recent momentum favours Metford, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Ellalong houses are +15.6% and Metford houses +21.5%, so Metford has compounded faster than Ellalong over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Metford and 2.1% in Ellalong, so landlords in Metford face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Metford is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,707 against 1,351, roughly 3.5 times the size of Ellalong; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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