Salisbury West vs Sebastopol

The median house price is $520K in Salisbury West and $510K in Sebastopol, so Sebastopol is the cheaper entry point, with Salisbury West houses about 2% dearer.

For units, Salisbury West sits at a median of $430K against $395K in Sebastopol, which makes Sebastopol the more affordable unit market and Salisbury West the pricier one.

On cash flow, Sebastopol leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.30%, compared with 4.23% in Salisbury West, a gap of 0.07 percentage points.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Sebastopol and 2.8% in Salisbury West, so landlords in Sebastopol face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Sebastopol is the bigger suburb, with a population of 10,194 against 38, roughly 268 times the size of Salisbury West; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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