McKenzie Hill vs St Leonards

The median house price is $745K in McKenzie Hill and $740K in St Leonards, so St Leonards is the cheaper entry point, with McKenzie Hill houses about 1% dearer.

For units, McKenzie Hill sits at a median of $510K against $490K in St Leonards, which makes St Leonards the more affordable unit market and McKenzie Hill the pricier one.

On cash flow, St Leonards leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.78%, compared with 3.58% in McKenzie Hill, a gap of 0.20 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -1.9% in McKenzie Hill (an estimate) and +2.5% in St Leonards, so recent momentum favours St Leonards, while McKenzie Hill went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 1.2% in St Leonards and 3.5% in McKenzie Hill, so landlords in St Leonards face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

St Leonards is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,542 against 775, roughly 4.6 times the size of McKenzie Hill; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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