Geelong West vs Selby

The median house price is $865K in Geelong West and $870K in Selby, so Geelong West is the cheaper entry point, with Selby houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Geelong West sits at a median of $565K against $655K in Selby, which makes Geelong West the more affordable unit market and Selby the pricier one.

On cash flow, Selby leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.17%, compared with 3.34% in Geelong West, a gap of 0.83 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.2% in Geelong West and +2.4% in Selby, so recent momentum favours Geelong West, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Geelong West houses are -5.9% and Selby houses +2.4%, so Selby has compounded faster than Geelong West over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 2.0% in Geelong West and 2.3% in Selby, so landlords in Geelong West face less competition for tenants.

Geelong West is the bigger suburb, with a population of 7,345 against 1,626, roughly 4.5 times the size of Selby; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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