Mullumbimby vs St Marys

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.2M in Mullumbimby and $1.2M in St Marys.

For units, Mullumbimby sits at a median of $760K against $715K in St Marys, which makes St Marys the more affordable unit market and Mullumbimby the pricier one.

On cash flow, Mullumbimby leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.39%, compared with 2.55% in St Marys, a gap of 1.84 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.5% in Mullumbimby and +12.8% in St Marys, so recent momentum favours St Marys, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Mullumbimby and 1.4% in St Marys, so landlords in Mullumbimby face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

St Marys is the bigger suburb, with a population of 13,256 against 4,180, roughly 3.2 times the size of Mullumbimby; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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