Maryborough vs Saunders Beach

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $580K in Maryborough and $580K in Saunders Beach.

For units, Maryborough sits at a median of $405K against $415K in Saunders Beach, which makes Maryborough the more affordable unit market and Saunders Beach the pricier one.

On cash flow, Maryborough leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.79%, compared with 3.87% in Saunders Beach, a gap of 0.92 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +18.6% in Maryborough and +15.4% in Saunders Beach, so recent momentum favours Maryborough, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Maryborough houses are +62.9% and Saunders Beach houses +54.7%, so Maryborough has compounded faster than Saunders Beach over the longer window.

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

Maryborough is the bigger suburb, with a population of 15,287 against 385, roughly 40 times the size of Saunders Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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