Lenah Valley vs Lillico

The median house price is $870K in Lenah Valley and $865K in Lillico, so Lillico is the cheaper entry point, with Lenah Valley houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, Lenah Valley leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.04%, compared with 2.96% in Lillico, a gap of 1.08 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.7% in Lenah Valley (an estimate) and +7.8% in Lillico (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Lenah Valley, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Lenah Valley and 4.2% in Lillico, so landlords in Lenah Valley face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Lenah Valley is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,522 against 24, roughly 272 times the size of Lillico; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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