Elwood vs Harcourt North

The median house price is $2M in Elwood and $2.1M in Harcourt North, so Elwood is the cheaper entry point, with Harcourt North houses about 5% dearer.

For units, Elwood sits at a median of $660K against $735K in Harcourt North, which makes Elwood the more affordable unit market and Harcourt North the pricier one.

On cash flow, Elwood leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.00%, compared with 1.33% in Harcourt North, a gap of 1.67 percentage points.

Rental vacancy is 1.3% in Harcourt North and 2.3% in Elwood, so landlords in Harcourt North face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Elwood is the bigger suburb, with a population of 15,153 against 291, roughly 52 times the size of Harcourt North; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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