Garden Suburb vs Hamilton North

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.1M in Garden Suburb and $1.1M in Hamilton North.

On cash flow, Garden Suburb leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.80%, compared with 3.50% in Hamilton North, a gap of 0.30 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +11.5% in Garden Suburb and +4.7% in Hamilton North, so recent momentum favours Garden Suburb, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Garden Suburb houses are +27.4% and Hamilton North houses +17.5%, so Garden Suburb has compounded faster than Hamilton North over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Hamilton North and 1.4% in Garden Suburb, so landlords in Hamilton North face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Garden Suburb is the bigger suburb, with a population of 1,959 against 934, roughly 2.1 times the size of Hamilton North; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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