Forest Hill vs Viewbank

The median house price is $1.2M in Forest Hill and $1.2M in Viewbank, so Viewbank is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Forest Hill sits at a median of $765K against $730K in Viewbank, which makes Viewbank the more affordable unit market and Forest Hill the pricier one.

On cash flow, Viewbank leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.24%, compared with 2.75% in Forest Hill, a gap of 0.49 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +1.6% in Forest Hill and +0.7% in Viewbank (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Forest Hill, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Forest Hill and 3.0% in Viewbank, so landlords in Forest Hill face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Forest Hill is the bigger suburb, with a population of 10,780 against 7,030, larger than Viewbank; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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