Eltham North vs Forest Hill

The median house price is $1.2M in Eltham North and $1.2M in Forest Hill, so Eltham North is the cheaper entry point, with Forest Hill houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Eltham North leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.35%, compared with 2.75% in Forest Hill, a gap of 0.60 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -2.1% in Eltham North and +1.6% in Forest Hill, so recent momentum favours Forest Hill, while Eltham North went backwards.

Looking back three years, Eltham North houses are -2.0% and Forest Hill houses -1.7%, so Forest Hill has compounded faster than Eltham North over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Forest Hill and 3.0% in Eltham North, so landlords in Forest Hill face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Forest Hill is the bigger suburb, with a population of 10,780 against 6,830, larger than Eltham North; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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