Floreat vs Wattleup

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $2.5M in Floreat and $2.5M in Wattleup.

For units, Floreat sits at a median of $1.4M against $580K in Wattleup, which makes Wattleup the more affordable unit market and Floreat the pricier one.

On cash flow, Floreat leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.45%, compared with 1.92% in Wattleup, a gap of 0.53 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.3% in Floreat and +18.2% in Wattleup, so recent momentum favours Wattleup, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Floreat houses are +36.2% and Wattleup houses +56.9%, so Wattleup has compounded faster than Floreat over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Wattleup and 1.2% in Floreat, so landlords in Wattleup face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Floreat is the bigger suburb, with a population of 8,621 against 443, roughly 19 times the size of Wattleup; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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