St Clair vs Urunga

Houses cost about the same in both suburbs: the median house price is $940K in St Clair and $940K in Urunga.

For units, St Clair sits at a median of $665K against $590K in Urunga, which makes Urunga the more affordable unit market and St Clair the pricier one.

On cash flow, Urunga leads: houses there return a gross rental yield of 3.37%, compared with 3.30% in St Clair, a gap of 0.07 percentage points.

Over the past year house prices moved +7.2% in St Clair (an estimate) and +5.1% in Urunga, so recent momentum favours St Clair, although both suburbs recorded growth.

Looking back three years, St Clair houses are +8.2% and Urunga houses +11.5%, so Urunga has compounded faster than St Clair over the longer window.

Rental vacancy is 0.8% in Urunga and 1.3% in St Clair, so landlords in Urunga face less competition for tenants. Anything under 2% is generally read as a tight market where tenants compete for homes.

St Clair is the bigger suburb, with a population of 19,959 against 3,185, roughly 6 times the size of Urunga; a larger suburb usually means a deeper pool of buyers and tenants.

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