Golden Square vs Newlands Arm

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $610K in Golden Square and $610K in Newlands Arm.

For units, Golden Square sits at a median of $500K against $445K in Newlands Arm, which makes Newlands Arm the more affordable unit market and Golden Square the pricier one.

On cash flow, Golden Square leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.51%, compared with 3.93% in Newlands Arm, a gap of 0.58 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +11.5% in Golden Square and +5.2% in Newlands Arm, so recent momentum favours Golden Square, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Golden Square houses are +16.5% and Newlands Arm houses -9.6%, so Golden Square has compounded faster than Newlands Arm over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.9% in Golden Square and 2.3% in Newlands Arm, so landlords in Golden Square face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Golden Square is the bigger suburb, with a population of 9,220 against 866, roughly 11 times the size of Newlands Arm; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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