Hillarys vs Karrinyup

The median house price is $1.8M in Hillarys and $1.7M in Karrinyup, so Karrinyup is the cheaper entry point, with Hillarys houses about 3% dearer.

On cash flow, Karrinyup leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.06%, compared with 2.81% in Hillarys, a gap of 0.25 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +23.2% in Hillarys and +12.0% in Karrinyup, so recent momentum favours Hillarys, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Hillarys houses are +62.5% and Karrinyup houses +47.8%, so Hillarys has compounded faster than Karrinyup over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Hillarys and 1.8% in Karrinyup, so landlords in Hillarys face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Hillarys is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,200 against 9,886, larger than Karrinyup; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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