Hanwood vs Lavington

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $625K in Hanwood and $625K in Lavington.

For units, Hanwood sits at a median of $400K against $395K in Lavington, which makes Lavington the more affordable unit market and Hanwood the pricier one.

On cash flow, Lavington leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.30%, compared with 3.86% in Hanwood, a gap of 0.44 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +0.5% in Hanwood (an estimate) and +16.2% in Lavington, so recent momentum favours Lavington, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Hanwood and 1.8% in Lavington, so landlords in Hanwood face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Lavington is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,073 against 1,388, roughly 9 times the size of Hanwood; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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