Bondi or Manly: Which is better? Realestate.com.au's Nerida Conisbee

Bondi or Manly: Which is better? Realestate.com.au's Nerida Conisbee
Staff reporterDecember 7, 2020

EXPERT OBSERVER 

Looking at a range of measures we track regularly on realestate.com.au, we’ve compared Bondi and Manly to determine which beachside suburb comes out on top.

Most expensive to buy: For both units and houses, Manly is more expensive (Manly: $2.8 million house, $1.25 million unit compared to Bondi: $2.2 million house, $1.1 million unit)

- Most expensive to rent: Manly is more expensive to rent (Manly: $1,500 pw house, $750 pw unit compared to Bondi: $1,285 pw house, $695 pw apartment)

- Strongest price growth (1 year): Prices have declined a lot in Bondi and Manly over the past 12 months, but Bondi has held its value best over this time period for houses. Manly has done better for units (Manly: -15% house, -8% unit compared to Bondi -10% house, -13% unit)

- Strongest rental growth (1 year): It has been good for renters over the past 12 months with rents declining for most property types in both suburbs. Bondi unit rents have dropped the most while for houses Manly has seen the biggest decline (Manly: -2% house, 0% unit compared to Bondi: -1% house, -5% unit)

- Highest yield: If you are an investor, Bondi units offer the best yield. The lowest yield is for Manly houses (Manly: 2.7% house, 3.5% unit compared to Bondi: 2.8% house, 3.8% unit)

- Highest views per buy listing: Demand from buyers is highest in Manly for houses and for units

- Highest views per rental listing: For renters, houses in Bondi are in higher demand while for units it is Manly

- Most popular with overseas property seekers: Bondi is more popular with property seekers from the US and Canada. Manly is more popular with property seekers from the UK, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, Indonesia, Philippines and Germany. Property seekers from Hong Kong, India, China and South Korea don’t really search either

So, which is better? For renters, Bondi wins – it is cheaper and rents have declined over the past 12 months.

For investors, it is also Bondi – prices have declined but have held value slightly better. And despite the rental decline, yields are generally better.

Buyers, however, show a strong preference for Manly over Bondi. We see higher views per listing and it sees much higher demand from a wider range of countries when it comes to overseas search.

Nerida Conisbee is an economist at realestate.com.au.

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