Fairfield vs New Lambton

The median house price is $1.3M in Fairfield and $1.3M in New Lambton, so Fairfield is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Fairfield sits at a median of $480K against $785K in New Lambton, which makes Fairfield the more affordable unit market and New Lambton the pricier one.

On cash flow, New Lambton leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.10%, compared with 2.69% in Fairfield, a gap of 0.41 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +11.5% in Fairfield and +9.4% in New Lambton, so recent momentum favours Fairfield, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Fairfield houses are +21.7% and New Lambton houses +12.1%, so Fairfield has compounded faster than New Lambton over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in New Lambton and 1.4% in Fairfield, so landlords in New Lambton face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Fairfield is the bigger suburb, with a population of 18,596 against 10,651, larger than New Lambton; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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