Shalvey vs Yerrinbool

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $920K in Shalvey and $920K in Yerrinbool.

For units, Shalvey sits at a median of $460K against $680K in Yerrinbool, which makes Shalvey the more affordable unit market and Yerrinbool the pricier one.

On cash flow, Yerrinbool leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.69%, compared with 3.29% in Shalvey, a gap of 0.40 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +9.4% in Shalvey and +2.1% in Yerrinbool, so recent momentum favours Shalvey, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, Shalvey houses are +35.4% and Yerrinbool houses +18.1%, so Shalvey has compounded faster than Yerrinbool over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Shalvey and 3.5% in Yerrinbool, so landlords in Shalvey face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Shalvey is the bigger suburb, with a population of 3,455 against 1,196, roughly 2.9 times the size of Yerrinbool; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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