Hastings vs Maldon

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $730K in Hastings and $730K in Maldon.

On cash flow, Hastings leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.13%, compared with 3.33% in Maldon, a gap of 0.80 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +5.7% in Hastings and +4.5% in Maldon, so recent momentum favours Hastings, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Hastings houses are +2.2% and Maldon houses -1.7%, so Hastings has compounded faster than Maldon over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Hastings and 1.9% in Maldon, so landlords in Hastings face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Hastings is the bigger suburb, with a population of 10,369 against 1,665, roughly 6 times the size of Maldon; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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