Hamersley vs Walliston

The median house price is $1.1M in Hamersley and $1.1M in Walliston, so Walliston is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Hamersley sits at a median of $815K against $660K in Walliston, which makes Walliston the more affordable unit market and Hamersley the pricier one.

On cash flow, Walliston leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.44%, compared with 3.79% in Hamersley, a gap of 1.65 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +13.7% in Hamersley (an estimate) and +18.1% in Walliston (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Walliston, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Hamersley and 1.0% in Walliston, so landlords in Hamersley face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Hamersley is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,209 against 1,016, roughly 5 times the size of Walliston; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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