Saunders Beach vs Tiaro

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $580K in Saunders Beach and $580K in Tiaro.

For units, Saunders Beach sits at a median of $415K against $540K in Tiaro, which makes Saunders Beach the more affordable unit market and Tiaro the pricier one.

On cash flow, Saunders Beach leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.87%, compared with 2.59% in Tiaro, a gap of 1.28 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +15.4% in Saunders Beach and +18.5% in Tiaro, so recent momentum favours Tiaro, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Saunders Beach houses are +54.7% and Tiaro houses +64.0%, so Tiaro has compounded faster than Saunders Beach over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Tiaro and 1.6% in Saunders Beach, so landlords in Tiaro face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Tiaro is the bigger suburb, with a population of 778 against 385, roughly 2.0 times the size of Saunders Beach; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

In short: Saunders Beach for rental income, Tiaro for recent price momentum, Tiaro for the tighter rental market. Which matters more depends on whether the investor is buying for cash flow, capital growth or affordability.