Mullumbimby vs Murrays Beach

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

For units, Mullumbimby sits at a median of $890K against $635K in Murrays Beach, which makes Murrays Beach the more affordable unit market and Mullumbimby the pricier one.

On cash flow, Mullumbimby leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.24%, compared with 3.55% in Murrays Beach, a gap of 0.69 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +1.3% in Mullumbimby (an estimate) and +5.6% in Murrays Beach, so recent momentum favours Murrays Beach, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Mullumbimby houses are -33.3% and Murrays Beach houses -1.4%, so Murrays Beach has compounded faster than Mullumbimby over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in Mullumbimby and 5.5% in Murrays Beach, so landlords in Mullumbimby face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Mullumbimby is the bigger suburb, with a population of 4,180 against 882, roughly 4.7 times the size of Murrays Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Mullumbimby for rental income, Murrays Beach 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.