Kawana vs South Mackay

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $650K in Kawana and $650K in South Mackay.

On cash flow, South Mackay leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.49%, compared with 4.76% in Kawana, a gap of 0.73 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +17.9% in Kawana and +18.2% in South Mackay, so recent momentum favours South Mackay, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Kawana houses are +76.9% and South Mackay houses +62.0%, so Kawana has compounded faster than South Mackay over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in Kawana and 1.1% in South Mackay, so landlords in Kawana face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

South Mackay is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,918 against 4,434, larger than Kawana; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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