Lake Bolac vs Venus Bay
Property investment comparison - Lake Bolac, VIC 3351 vs Venus Bay, VIC 3956
Head-to-head across core investment metrics: Lake Bolac wins 3, Venus Bay wins 2. The better choice depends on whether you're optimising for cash flow, growth, affordability, or liquidity, the table below highlights the winner on each metric.
| Metric | Lake Bolac | Venus Bay |
|---|---|---|
| Median house price | $495K | $490K |
| Median unit price | $365K | $495K |
| Gross rental yield (houses) | 5.64% | 4.33% |
| Gross rental yield (units) | 3.99% | 2.49% |
| 1-year house growth | - | +0.9% |
| 3-year house growth | - | -30.0% |
| Vacancy rate | 2.8% | 1.1% |
| Population | 368 | 904 |
Lake Bolac vs Venus Bay: what the numbers say
The median house price is $495K in Lake Bolac and $490K in Venus Bay, so Venus Bay is the cheaper entry point, with Lake Bolac houses about 1% dearer.
For units, Lake Bolac sits at a median of $365K against $495K in Venus Bay, which makes Lake Bolac the more affordable unit market and Venus Bay the pricier one.
On cash flow, Lake Bolac leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.64%, compared with 4.33% in Venus Bay, a gap of 1.31 percentage points.
Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Venus Bay and 2.8% in Lake Bolac, so landlords in Venus Bay face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.
Venus Bay is the bigger suburb, with a population of 904 against 368, roughly 2.5 times the size of Lake Bolac; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.
In short: Lake Bolac for rental income, Venus Bay for a lower purchase price, Venus Bay for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.
Keep exploring
- National investment guide - top suburbs across every metric
- Take the suburb finder quiz - 5 questions to match your goals
- How our investment score works
- Property investment glossary - every term defined
Compare any 2-4 Australian suburbs
Build your own multi-suburb comparison with the full interactive tool.
Open interactive comparison