Kelso vs Orient Point

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $800K in Kelso and $800K in Orient Point.

For units, Kelso sits at a median of $420K against $625K in Orient Point, which makes Kelso the more affordable unit market and Orient Point the pricier one.

On cash flow, Kelso leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.09%, compared with 3.57% in Orient Point, a gap of 0.52 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +6.7% in both suburbs.

Looking back three years, Kelso houses are +13.0% and Orient Point houses -1.2%, so Kelso has compounded faster than Orient Point over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in Kelso and 1.3% in Orient Point, so landlords in Kelso face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Kelso is the bigger suburb, with a population of 10,039 against 629, roughly 16 times the size of Orient Point; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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