Hamilton East vs Westmead

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

For units, Hamilton East sits at a median of $650K against $600K in Westmead, which makes Westmead the more affordable unit market and Hamilton East the pricier one.

On cash flow, Hamilton East leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.34%, compared with 2.23% in Westmead, a gap of 0.11 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.6% in Hamilton East and +1.7% in Westmead, so recent momentum favours Hamilton East, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Hamilton East houses are +13.2% and Westmead houses +7.5%, so Hamilton East has compounded faster than Westmead over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Westmead and 1.3% in Hamilton East, so landlords in Westmead face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Westmead is the bigger suburb, with a population of 16,555 against 997, roughly 17 times the size of Hamilton East; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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