Lakelands vs Ravenswood

The median house price is $800K in Lakelands and $805K in Ravenswood, so Lakelands is the cheaper entry point, with Ravenswood houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Lakelands leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.30%, compared with 4.10% in Ravenswood, a gap of 0.20 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +17.6% in Lakelands and +22.4% in Ravenswood, so recent momentum favours Ravenswood, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Lakelands houses are +69.5% and Ravenswood houses +77.0%, so Ravenswood has compounded faster than Lakelands over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 2.4% in Ravenswood and 3.8% in Lakelands, so landlords in Ravenswood face less competition for tenants.

Lakelands is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,171 against 2,483, roughly 2.5 times the size of Ravenswood; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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