Ellalong vs The Pocket

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $825K in Ellalong and $825K in The Pocket.

For units, Ellalong sits at a median of $470K against $885K in The Pocket, which makes Ellalong the more affordable unit market and The Pocket the pricier one.

On cash flow, The Pocket leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.51%, compared with 3.85% in Ellalong, a gap of 1.66 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +10.2% in Ellalong and -3.1% in The Pocket, so recent momentum favours Ellalong, while The Pocket went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in The Pocket and 2.1% in Ellalong, so landlords in The Pocket face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Ellalong is the bigger suburb, with a population of 1,351 against 231, roughly 6 times the size of The Pocket; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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