Norah Head vs Woollamia

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.6M in Norah Head and $1.6M in Woollamia.

For units, Norah Head sits at a median of $1.2M against $625K in Woollamia, which makes Woollamia the more affordable unit market and Norah Head the pricier one.

On cash flow, Norah Head leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.50%, compared with 2.17% in Woollamia, a gap of 0.33 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.2% in Norah Head (an estimate) and -20.9% in Woollamia (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Norah Head, while Woollamia went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 0.3% in Norah Head and 3.4% in Woollamia, so landlords in Norah Head face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Norah Head is the bigger suburb, with a population of 1,149 against 653, larger than Woollamia; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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