Guildford vs Herne Hill

The median house price is $795K in Guildford and $800K in Herne Hill, so Guildford is the cheaper entry point, with Herne Hill houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Guildford sits at a median of $680K against $400K in Herne Hill, which makes Herne Hill the more affordable unit market and Guildford the pricier one.

On cash flow, Herne Hill leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.57%, compared with 2.35% in Guildford, a gap of 1.22 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.3% in Guildford and +3.2% in Herne Hill, so recent momentum favours Guildford, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Guildford houses are -28.7% and Herne Hill houses +12.1%, so Herne Hill has compounded faster than Guildford over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 2.1% in Herne Hill and 2.4% in Guildford, so landlords in Herne Hill face less competition for tenants.

Herne Hill is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,507 against 330, roughly 11 times the size of Guildford; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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