South Geelong vs Tullamarine

The median house price is $830K in South Geelong and $825K in Tullamarine, so Tullamarine is the cheaper entry point, with South Geelong houses about 1% dearer.

For units, South Geelong sits at a median of $575K against $600K in Tullamarine, which makes South Geelong the more affordable unit market and Tullamarine the pricier one.

On cash flow, Tullamarine leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.78%, compared with 3.60% in South Geelong, a gap of 0.18 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.7% in South Geelong and +10.0% in Tullamarine, so recent momentum favours Tullamarine, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, South Geelong houses are -9.3% and Tullamarine houses +14.2%, so Tullamarine has compounded faster than South Geelong over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 1.0% in South Geelong and 1.1% in Tullamarine, so landlords in South Geelong face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

Tullamarine is the bigger suburb, with a population of 6,733 against 1,014, roughly 7 times the size of South Geelong; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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