Goode Beach vs Thornlie

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $865K in Goode Beach and $865K in Thornlie.

For units, Goode Beach sits at a median of $215K against $555K in Thornlie, which makes Goode Beach the more affordable unit market and Thornlie the pricier one.

On cash flow, Thornlie leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.34%, compared with 2.73% in Goode Beach, a gap of 1.61 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +20.1% in Goode Beach and +22.2% in Thornlie (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Thornlie, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Thornlie and 3.5% in Goode Beach, so landlords in Thornlie face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Thornlie is the bigger suburb, with a population of 23,665 against 258, roughly 92 times the size of Goode Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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