Heckenberg vs Mayfield

The median house price is $1.1M in Heckenberg and $1.1M in Mayfield, so Mayfield is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Heckenberg sits at a median of $795K against $830K in Mayfield, which makes Heckenberg the more affordable unit market and Mayfield the pricier one.

On cash flow, Mayfield leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.47%, compared with 3.20% in Heckenberg, a gap of 0.27 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.7% in Heckenberg and +10.5% in Mayfield, so recent momentum favours Mayfield, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Heckenberg houses are +29.9% and Mayfield houses +27.7%, so Heckenberg has compounded faster than Mayfield over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Mayfield and 2.2% in Heckenberg, so landlords in Mayfield face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mayfield is the bigger suburb, with a population of 9,760 against 3,263, roughly 3.0 times the size of Heckenberg; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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