Russell Lea vs St Ives

The median house price is $3.4M in Russell Lea and $3.4M in St Ives, so Russell Lea is the cheaper entry point, with St Ives houses about 2% dearer.

For units, Russell Lea sits at a median of $1.1M against $1.1M in St Ives, which makes Russell Lea the more affordable unit market and St Ives the pricier one.

On cash flow, St Ives leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 2.31%, compared with 2.12% in Russell Lea, a gap of 0.19 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +5.1% in Russell Lea (an estimate) and +6.6% in St Ives, so recent momentum favours St Ives, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 1.7% in Russell Lea and 3.2% in St Ives, so landlords in Russell Lea face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

St Ives is the bigger suburb, with a population of 18,384 against 4,920, roughly 3.7 times the size of Russell Lea; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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