Narrabri vs Parkes

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $480K in Narrabri and $480K in Parkes.

On cash flow, Narrabri leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.60%, compared with 4.80% in Parkes, a gap of 0.80 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.3% in Narrabri and +7.0% in Parkes, so recent momentum favours Parkes, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Narrabri houses are +14.4% and Parkes houses -2.8%, so Narrabri has compounded faster than Parkes over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Narrabri and 2.7% in Parkes, so landlords in Narrabri face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Parkes is the bigger suburb, with a population of 11,324 against 7,327, larger than Narrabri; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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