Katoomba vs Yerrinbool

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $920K in Katoomba and $920K in Yerrinbool.

For units, Katoomba sits at a median of $650K against $680K in Yerrinbool, which makes Katoomba the more affordable unit market and Yerrinbool the pricier one.

On cash flow, Yerrinbool leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.69%, compared with 3.59% in Katoomba, a gap of 0.10 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.6% in Katoomba and +2.1% in Yerrinbool, so recent momentum favours Katoomba, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Katoomba houses are +13.4% and Yerrinbool houses +18.1%, so Yerrinbool has compounded faster than Katoomba over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in Katoomba and 3.5% in Yerrinbool, so landlords in Katoomba face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Katoomba is the bigger suburb, with a population of 8,268 against 1,196, roughly 7 times the size of Yerrinbool; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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