Paterson vs Uki

The median house price is $950K in Paterson and $945K in Uki, so Uki is the cheaper entry point, with Paterson houses about 1% dearer.

For units, Paterson sits at a median of $465K against $580K in Uki, which makes Paterson the more affordable unit market and Uki the pricier one.

On cash flow, Uki leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.81%, compared with 3.56% in Paterson, a gap of 1.25 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -2.7% in Paterson and +12.0% in Uki, so recent momentum favours Uki, while Paterson went backwards.

Looking back three years, Paterson houses are +10.7% and Uki houses +18.6%, so Uki has compounded faster than Paterson over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.6% in Paterson and 1.8% in Uki, so landlords in Paterson face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Paterson is the bigger suburb, with a population of 960 against 685, larger than Uki; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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