Macleay Island vs Saunders Beach

The median house price is $575K in Macleay Island and $580K in Saunders Beach, so Macleay Island is the cheaper entry point, with Saunders Beach houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Macleay Island sits at a median of $800K against $415K in Saunders Beach, which makes Saunders Beach the more affordable unit market and Macleay Island the pricier one.

On cash flow, Macleay Island leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.40%, compared with 3.87% in Saunders Beach, a gap of 0.53 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +13.9% in Macleay Island and +15.4% in Saunders Beach, so recent momentum favours Saunders Beach, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Macleay Island houses are +42.5% and Saunders Beach houses +54.7%, so Saunders Beach has compounded faster than Macleay Island over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.2% in Macleay Island and 1.6% in Saunders Beach, so landlords in Macleay Island face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Macleay Island is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,193 against 385, roughly 8 times the size of Saunders Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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