Melonba vs Ocean Shores

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.3M in Melonba and $1.3M in Ocean Shores.

For units, Melonba sits at a median of $860K against $940K in Ocean Shores, which makes Melonba the more affordable unit market and Ocean Shores the pricier one.

On cash flow, Ocean Shores leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.85%, compared with 3.50% in Melonba, a gap of 0.35 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.8% in Melonba (an estimate) and +2.9% in Ocean Shores (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Melonba, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Ocean Shores and 6.0% in Melonba, so landlords in Ocean Shores face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Ocean Shores is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,777 against 1,439, roughly 4.0 times the size of Melonba; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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