North Manly vs St Ives

The median house price is $3.4M in North Manly and $3.4M in St Ives, so St Ives is the cheaper entry point, with North Manly houses about 1% dearer.

For units, North Manly sits at a median of $1.1M against $1.1M in St Ives, which makes North Manly the more affordable unit market and St Ives the pricier one.

On cash flow, North Manly leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.47%, compared with 2.31% in St Ives, a gap of 0.16 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +3.5% in North Manly (an estimate) and +6.6% in St Ives, so recent momentum favours St Ives, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 2.7% in North Manly and 3.2% in St Ives, so landlords in North Manly face less competition for tenants.

St Ives is the bigger suburb, with a population of 18,384 against 3,396, roughly 5 times the size of North Manly; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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