Macleay Island vs Sun Valley

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $575K in Macleay Island and $575K in Sun Valley.

For units, Macleay Island sits at a median of $800K against $295K in Sun Valley, which makes Sun Valley the more affordable unit market and Macleay Island the pricier one.

On cash flow, Sun Valley leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.01%, compared with 4.40% in Macleay Island, a gap of 0.61 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +13.9% in Macleay Island and +15.7% in Sun Valley, so recent momentum favours Sun Valley, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Macleay Island houses are +42.5% and Sun Valley houses +75.3%, so Sun Valley has compounded faster than Macleay Island over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Sun Valley and 1.2% in Macleay Island, so landlords in Sun Valley 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 1,296, roughly 2.5 times the size of Sun Valley; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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