Richmond vs St Andrews

The median house price is $1.0M in Richmond and $1.0M in St Andrews, so Richmond is the cheaper entry point.

On cash flow, St Andrews leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.33%, compared with 3.20% in Richmond, a gap of 0.13 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +8.4% in Richmond and +8.6% in St Andrews, so recent momentum favours St Andrews, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Richmond houses are +19.3% and St Andrews houses +23.7%, so St Andrews has compounded faster than Richmond over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.1% in Richmond and 2.4% in St Andrews, so landlords in Richmond face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

St Andrews is the bigger suburb, with a population of 5,785 against 5,418, larger than Richmond; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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