Jilliby vs Pearl Beach

The median house price is $2.0M in Jilliby and $2.0M in Pearl Beach, so Pearl Beach is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Jilliby sits at a median of $585K against $1.3M in Pearl Beach, which makes Jilliby the more affordable unit market and Pearl Beach the pricier one.

On cash flow, Pearl Beach leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.05%, compared with 1.88% in Jilliby, a gap of 0.17 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.4% in Jilliby and +11.0% in Pearl Beach (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Jilliby, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.5% in Jilliby and 4.4% in Pearl Beach, so landlords in Jilliby face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Jilliby is the bigger suburb, with a population of 1,694 against 510, roughly 3.3 times the size of Pearl Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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