Hastings vs Sunbury

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

For units, Hastings sits at a median of $590K against $525K in Sunbury, which makes Sunbury the more affordable unit market and Hastings the pricier one.

On cash flow, Hastings leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.13%, compared with 3.90% in Sunbury, a gap of 0.23 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +5.7% in Hastings and +8.4% in Sunbury, so recent momentum favours Sunbury, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Hastings houses are +2.2% and Sunbury houses +9.1%, so Sunbury has compounded faster than Hastings over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Hastings and 2.2% in Sunbury, so landlords in Hastings face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Sunbury is the bigger suburb, with a population of 38,851 against 10,369, roughly 3.7 times the size of Hastings; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Hastings for rental income, Sunbury 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.