Garfield vs Killara

The median house price is $780K in Garfield and $775K in Killara, so Killara is the cheaper entry point, with Garfield houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Garfield sits at a median of $575K against $445K in Killara, which makes Killara the more affordable unit market and Garfield the pricier one.

On cash flow, Killara leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.20%, compared with 3.90% in Garfield, a gap of 0.30 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +2.5% in Garfield and +16.4% in Killara (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Killara, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Garfield and 3.3% in Killara, so landlords in Garfield face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Garfield is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,114 against 1,485, larger than Killara; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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