Marlo vs Whittington

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $590K in Marlo and $590K in Whittington.

On cash flow, Whittington leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.25%, compared with 4.10% in Marlo, a gap of 0.15 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.4% in Marlo and +11.3% in Whittington, so recent momentum favours Whittington, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Marlo houses are +14.3% and Whittington houses +18.0%, so Whittington has compounded faster than Marlo over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Marlo and 1.2% in Whittington, so landlords in Marlo face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Whittington is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,990 against 602, roughly 7 times the size of Marlo; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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