North Richmond vs Umina Beach

The median house price is $1.3M in North Richmond and $1.3M in Umina Beach, so North Richmond is the cheaper entry point.

For units, North Richmond sits at a median of $770K against $880K in Umina Beach, which makes North Richmond the more affordable unit market and Umina Beach the pricier one.

On cash flow, North Richmond leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.00%, compared with 2.67% in Umina Beach, a gap of 0.33 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +13.5% in North Richmond and +8.7% in Umina Beach, so recent momentum favours North Richmond, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in North Richmond and 1.8% in Umina Beach, so landlords in North Richmond face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Umina Beach is the bigger suburb, with a population of 17,372 against 6,358, roughly 2.7 times the size of North Richmond; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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