Goonellabah vs Windellama

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

For units, Goonellabah sits at a median of $585K against $560K in Windellama, which makes Windellama 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 3.84% in Windellama, a gap of 0.60 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.7% in Goonellabah and +20.6% in Windellama (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Windellama, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Goonellabah and 6.1% in Windellama, so landlords in Goonellabah face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Goonellabah is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,351 against 417, roughly 32 times the size of Windellama; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Goonellabah for rental income, Goonellabah for a lower purchase price, Windellama 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.