Harcourt North vs Surrey Hills

The median house price is $2.1M in Harcourt North and $2.2M in Surrey Hills, so Harcourt North is the cheaper entry point, with Surrey Hills houses about 3% dearer.

For units, Harcourt North sits at a median of $735K against $900K in Surrey Hills, which makes Harcourt North the more affordable unit market and Surrey Hills the pricier one.

On cash flow, Surrey Hills leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.23%, compared with 1.33% in Harcourt North, a gap of 0.90 percentage points.

Rental vacancy is 1.3% in Harcourt North and 2.6% in Surrey Hills, so landlords in Harcourt North face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Surrey Hills is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,655 against 291, roughly 47 times the size of Harcourt North; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Surrey Hills for rental income, Harcourt North for a lower purchase price, Harcourt North for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.