Fairhaven vs Fitzroy

The median house price is $1.5M in Fairhaven and $1.6M in Fitzroy, so Fairhaven is the cheaper entry point, with Fitzroy houses about 2% dearer.

For units, Fairhaven sits at a median of $1.4M against $810K in Fitzroy, which makes Fitzroy the more affordable unit market and Fairhaven the pricier one.

On cash flow, Fitzroy leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.60%, compared with 1.69% in Fairhaven, a gap of 1.91 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -13.2% in Fairhaven (an estimate) and -10.2% in Fitzroy (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Fitzroy, while Fairhaven went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Fitzroy and 3.2% in Fairhaven, so landlords in Fitzroy face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Fitzroy is the bigger suburb, with a population of 10,431 against 390, roughly 27 times the size of Fairhaven; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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