Lake Tabourie vs North Macksville

The median house price is $810K in Lake Tabourie and $820K in North Macksville, so Lake Tabourie is the cheaper entry point, with North Macksville houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Lake Tabourie leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.26%, compared with 3.79% in North Macksville, a gap of 0.47 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.7% in Lake Tabourie (an estimate) and +7.8% in North Macksville (an estimate), so recent momentum favours North Macksville, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.9% in Lake Tabourie and 2.6% in North Macksville, so landlords in Lake Tabourie face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Lake Tabourie is the bigger suburb, with a population of 689 against 669, larger than North Macksville; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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