Palm Cove vs Redland Bay

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $1.2M in Palm Cove and $1.2M in Redland Bay.

For units, Palm Cove sits at a median of $550K against $880K in Redland Bay, which makes Palm Cove the more affordable unit market and Redland Bay the pricier one.

On cash flow, Palm Cove leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.82%, compared with 3.39% in Redland Bay, a gap of 0.43 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +14.6% in Palm Cove and +16.6% in Redland Bay (an estimate), so recent momentum favours Redland Bay, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in Palm Cove and 1.8% in Redland Bay, so landlords in Palm Cove face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Redland Bay is the bigger suburb, with a population of 17,056 against 2,450, roughly 7 times the size of Palm Cove; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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