Soldiers Hill vs Wallan

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $620K in Soldiers Hill and $620K in Wallan.

For units, Soldiers Hill sits at a median of $490K against $465K in Wallan, which makes Wallan the more affordable unit market and Soldiers Hill the pricier one.

On cash flow, Wallan leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 4.00%, compared with 3.72% in Soldiers Hill, a gap of 0.28 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +11.4% in Soldiers Hill (an estimate) and +0.0% in Wallan, so recent momentum favours Soldiers Hill, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Rental vacancy is 0.4% in Soldiers Hill and 2.1% in Wallan, so landlords in Soldiers Hill face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Wallan is the bigger suburb, with a population of 15,004 against 2,813, roughly 5 times the size of Soldiers Hill; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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