Melonba vs Sawyers Gully

The median house price is $1.3M in Melonba and $1.3M in Sawyers Gully, so Sawyers Gully is the cheaper entry point.

For units, Melonba sits at a median of $860K against $460K in Sawyers Gully, which makes Sawyers Gully the more affordable unit market and Melonba the pricier one.

On cash flow, Melonba leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.50%, compared with 2.10% in Sawyers Gully, a gap of 1.40 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.8% in Melonba (an estimate) and +7.1% in Sawyers Gully, so recent momentum favours Melonba, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 2.3% in Sawyers Gully and 6.0% in Melonba, so landlords in Sawyers Gully face less competition for tenants.

Melonba is the bigger suburb, with a population of 1,439 against 542, roughly 2.7 times the size of Sawyers Gully; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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