Howlong vs Junction Hill

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $595K in Howlong and $595K in Junction Hill.

On cash flow, Junction Hill leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.10%, compared with 4.44% in Howlong, a gap of 0.66 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.3% in Howlong and +6.4% in Junction Hill, so recent momentum favours Junction Hill, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Howlong houses are +29.7% and Junction Hill houses +1.9%, so Howlong has compounded faster than Junction Hill over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Junction Hill and 1.4% in Howlong, so landlords in Junction Hill face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Howlong is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,997 against 1,547, larger than Junction Hill; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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