Manyana vs Warrawong

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $905K in Manyana and $905K in Warrawong.

For units, Manyana sits at a median of $695K against $490K in Warrawong, which makes Warrawong the more affordable unit market and Manyana the pricier one.

On cash flow, Warrawong leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.74%, compared with 2.87% in Manyana, a gap of 0.87 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -2.2% in Manyana and +8.3% in Warrawong (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Warrawong, while Manyana went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 0.5% in Warrawong and 0.7% in Manyana, so landlords in Warrawong face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Warrawong is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,659 against 670, roughly 7 times the size of Manyana; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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