Leneva vs St Leonards

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $740K in Leneva and $740K in St Leonards.

For units, Leneva sits at a median of $555K against $490K in St Leonards, which makes St Leonards the more affordable unit market and Leneva the pricier one.

On cash flow, Leneva leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.50%, compared with 3.78% in St Leonards, a gap of 0.72 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +12.7% in Leneva (an estimate) and +2.5% in St Leonards, so recent momentum favours Leneva, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.2% in St Leonards and 4.6% in Leneva, so landlords in St Leonards face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

St Leonards is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,542 against 1,317, roughly 2.7 times the size of Leneva; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Leneva for rental income, Leneva for recent price momentum, St Leonards for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.