Red Rock vs South Murwillumbah

The median house price is $855K in Red Rock and $850K in South Murwillumbah, so South Murwillumbah is the cheaper entry point, with Red Rock houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, South Murwillumbah leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.60%, compared with 3.13% in Red Rock, a gap of 1.47 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved -2.7% in Red Rock and +8.6% in South Murwillumbah, so recent momentum favours South Murwillumbah, while Red Rock went backwards.

Rental vacancy is 0.9% in South Murwillumbah and 1.7% in Red Rock, so landlords in South Murwillumbah face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

South Murwillumbah is the bigger suburb, with a population of 1,064 against 412, roughly 2.6 times the size of Red Rock; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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