Koolewong vs Woy Woy

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.1M in Koolewong and $1.1M in Woy Woy.

For units, Koolewong sits at a median of $690K against $810K in Woy Woy, which makes Koolewong the more affordable unit market and Woy Woy the pricier one.

On cash flow, Koolewong leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.30%, compared with 3.05% in Woy Woy, a gap of 0.25 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.8% in Koolewong and +7.7% in Woy Woy, so recent momentum favours Koolewong, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Koolewong houses are +11.9% and Woy Woy houses +13.6%, so Woy Woy has compounded faster than Koolewong over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Koolewong and 1.4% in Woy Woy, so landlords in Koolewong face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Woy Woy is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,072 against 920, roughly 12 times the size of Koolewong; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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