Kurri Kurri vs Macksville

The median house price is $700K in Kurri Kurri and $695K in Macksville, so Macksville is the cheaper entry point, with Kurri Kurri houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Macksville leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.30%, compared with 4.20% in Kurri Kurri, a gap of 0.10 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.9% in Kurri Kurri and +8.0% in Macksville, so recent momentum favours Kurri Kurri, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Kurri Kurri houses are +26.1% and Macksville houses +19.3%, so Kurri Kurri has compounded faster than Macksville over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Macksville and 1.5% in Kurri Kurri, so landlords in Macksville face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Kurri Kurri is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,174 against 2,782, roughly 2.2 times the size of Macksville; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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