Richmond vs West Hobart

The median house price is $975K in Richmond and $985K in West Hobart, so Richmond is the cheaper entry point, with West Hobart houses about 1% dearer.

On cash flow, West Hobart leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.75%, compared with 3.47% in Richmond, a gap of 0.28 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +4.4% in Richmond and +3.8% in West Hobart, so recent momentum favours Richmond, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Richmond houses are +6.0% and West Hobart houses -1.4%, so Richmond has compounded faster than West Hobart over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.6% in West Hobart and 1.6% in Richmond, so landlords in West Hobart face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

West Hobart is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,525 against 1,583, roughly 4.1 times the size of Richmond; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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