Mount Nelson vs Richmond

The median house price is $985K in Mount Nelson and $975K in Richmond, so Richmond is the cheaper entry point, with Mount Nelson houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Mount Nelson sits at a median of $560K against $510K in Richmond, which makes Richmond the more affordable unit market and Mount Nelson the pricier one.

On cash flow, Richmond leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.47%, compared with 3.29% in Mount Nelson, a gap of 0.18 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.1% in Mount Nelson and +4.4% in Richmond, so recent momentum favours Mount Nelson, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Mount Nelson houses are +1.4% and Richmond houses +6.0%, so Richmond has compounded faster than Mount Nelson over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Mount Nelson and 1.6% in Richmond, so landlords in Mount Nelson face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mount Nelson is the bigger suburb, with a population of 2,749 against 1,583, larger than Richmond; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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