Lakemba vs Tennyson

The median house price is $1.5M in Lakemba and $1.5M in Tennyson, so Lakemba is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Lakemba sits at a median of $540K against $2.0M in Tennyson, which makes Lakemba the more affordable unit market and Tennyson the pricier one.

On cash flow, Lakemba leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.77%, compared with 2.44% in Tennyson, a gap of 0.33 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +2.3% in Lakemba (an estimate) and +3.0% in Tennyson (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Tennyson, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.5% in Lakemba and 4.2% in Tennyson, so landlords in Lakemba face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Lakemba is the bigger suburb, with a population of 17,092 against 379, roughly 45 times the size of Tennyson; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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