Merrylands vs Shellharbour

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.4M in Merrylands and $1.4M in Shellharbour.

For units, Merrylands sits at a median of $540K against $910K in Shellharbour, which makes Merrylands the more affordable unit market and Shellharbour the pricier one.

Over the past year house prices moved +5.4% in Merrylands and +10.3% in Shellharbour, so recent momentum favours Shellharbour, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Merrylands houses are +9.6% and Shellharbour houses +22.6%, so Shellharbour has compounded faster than Merrylands over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.7% in Shellharbour and 1.7% in Merrylands, so landlords in Shellharbour face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Merrylands is the bigger suburb, with a population of 32,472 against 3,520, roughly 9 times the size of Shellharbour; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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