Ferny Hills vs Palmwoods

The median house price is $1.2M in Ferny Hills and $1.2M in Palmwoods, so Palmwoods is the cheaper entry point.

On cash flow, Palmwoods leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.42%, compared with 3.30% in Ferny Hills, a gap of 0.12 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +13.7% in Ferny Hills and +14.1% in Palmwoods, so recent momentum favours Palmwoods, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Ferny Hills houses are +39.5% and Palmwoods houses +37.0%, so Ferny Hills has compounded faster than Palmwoods over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.2% in Palmwoods and 1.6% in Ferny Hills, so landlords in Palmwoods face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Ferny Hills is the bigger suburb, with a population of 8,726 against 6,357, larger than Palmwoods; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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