Kensington Park vs Westbourne Park

The median house price is $1.9M in Kensington Park and $2.2M in Westbourne Park, so Kensington Park is the cheaper entry point, with Westbourne Park houses about 21% dearer.

For units, Kensington Park sits at a median of $790K against $580K in Westbourne Park, which makes Westbourne Park the more affordable unit market and Kensington Park the pricier one.

On cash flow, Kensington Park leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.40%, compared with 1.62% in Westbourne Park, a gap of 0.78 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.1% in Kensington Park and +7.2% in Westbourne Park, so recent momentum favours Westbourne Park, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Kensington Park houses are +52.6% and Westbourne Park houses +44.8%, so Kensington Park has compounded faster than Westbourne Park over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in Westbourne Park and 0.9% in Kensington Park, so landlords in Westbourne Park face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Kensington Park is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,627 against 2,564, larger than Westbourne Park; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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