Hamilton East vs Westleigh

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $2M in Hamilton East and $2M in Westleigh.

For units, Hamilton East sits at a median of $650K against $735K in Westleigh, which makes Hamilton East the more affordable unit market and Westleigh the pricier one.

On cash flow, Westleigh leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.93%, compared with 2.34% in Hamilton East, a gap of 0.59 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.6% in Hamilton East and -2.8% in Westleigh, so recent momentum favours Hamilton East, while Westleigh went backwards.

Looking back three years, Hamilton East houses are +13.2% and Westleigh houses +1.4%, so Hamilton East has compounded faster than Westleigh over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.3% in Hamilton East and 2.5% in Westleigh, so landlords in Hamilton East face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Westleigh is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,501 against 997, roughly 4.5 times the size of Hamilton East; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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