Lutwyche vs Tamborine

The median house price is $1.5M in Lutwyche and $1.5M in Tamborine, so Tamborine is the cheaper entry point, with Lutwyche houses about 2% dearer.

For units, Lutwyche sits at a median of $830K against $1.3M in Tamborine, which makes Lutwyche the more affordable unit market and Tamborine the pricier one.

On cash flow, Lutwyche leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.55%, compared with 2.29% in Tamborine, a gap of 0.26 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +2.7% in Lutwyche and +9.6% in Tamborine (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Tamborine, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.3% in Lutwyche and 0.7% in Tamborine, so landlords in Lutwyche face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Lutwyche is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,610 against 4,388, larger than Tamborine; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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