North Mackay vs Telina

The median house price is $645K in North Mackay and $640K in Telina, so Telina is the cheaper entry point, with North Mackay houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, North Mackay leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 5.52%, compared with 4.61% in Telina, a gap of 0.91 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +15.6% in North Mackay and +13.6% in Telina (an estimate), so recent momentum favours North Mackay, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Telina and 1.3% in North Mackay, so landlords in Telina face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

North Mackay is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,194 against 2,197, roughly 2.8 times the size of Telina; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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