Goonellabah vs Raymond Terrace

The median house price is $760K in Goonellabah and $765K in Raymond Terrace, so Goonellabah is the cheaper entry point, with Raymond Terrace houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Goonellabah sits at a median of $585K against $540K in Raymond Terrace, which makes Raymond Terrace the more affordable unit market and Goonellabah the pricier one.

On cash flow, Goonellabah leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.44%, compared with 4.30% in Raymond Terrace, a gap of 0.14 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.7% in Goonellabah and +12.0% in Raymond Terrace, so recent momentum favours Raymond Terrace, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Goonellabah houses are +15.2% and Raymond Terrace houses +20.6%, so Raymond Terrace has compounded faster than Goonellabah over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Goonellabah and 1.4% in Raymond Terrace, so landlords in Goonellabah face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Raymond Terrace is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,453 against 13,351, larger than Goonellabah; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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