Market Intel · 17 September 2026 · 4 min read
Eagleby vs Sunbury vs Cherrybrook: Why 80/100 Means Different Things
Three suburbs, one score: Eagleby, Sunbury and Cherrybrook all landed on 80/100 for very different reasons. Here’s what the data says about price, supply and scarcity.
▶ Watch the full video on YouTube: Eagleby vs Sunbury vs Cherrybrook: One Scores 80/100
Three suburbs. Three very different market stories. Yet Eagleby, Sunbury and Cherrybrook all landed on the same 80/100 R-Score.
That is the point of this Suburb Showdown: the same score can come from very different drivers — volume, scarcity, or price. If you want to invest well, you need to know which force is doing the work, because the wrong assumption can turn a good-looking suburb into a weak buy.
Eagleby: the score fell because price outran rent
Eagleby, Queensland 4207, is the clearest example of a suburb where the price move did the damage.
It printed 86 in July, then fell to 45 in August. Over the same period, the median house price rose 37.5% in 22 months to $935,000.
The rental market did not break:
- Median rent rose from $550 to $620 a week
- Gross yield fell from 4.38% to 3.45%
- Vacancy sits at 1.1%
- Buyers are paying $66,000 over the $869,000 asking median
- Days of supply doubled from 45 in May to 94 in August
Logan has real demand, with population growth at the 97th percentile and major projects at the 91st percentile. But it also builds at the fifth percentile for supply restraint, with 44.17 approvals per thousand existing homes and 4,855 approvals in a year.
The message is simple: the rental market is healthy, but the price surge has thinned the yield and dragged the score down.
Sunbury: an 80/100 score built on volume, not scarcity
Sunbury, Victoria 3429, scored 80 too — but for a completely different reason.
This is the volume door. Hume is approving at scale, with 49.39 approvals per thousand existing dwellings and 3,329 approvals in a year, while the area sits in the 94th percentile for population growth.
The market numbers show why this needs careful underwriting:
- Median house price: $760,000, up 11.8%
- Median rent: $530 a week, down from $560
- Gross yield: 3.63%, down 80 basis points
- Vacancy: 4.8% after peaking at 5.7%
- Buyers are settling $35,000 under the $795,000 asking median
- 823 sales in 12 months
- 69% owner occupied, 18% investor, 0.96% public housing
This is not a broken suburb. It is a growth corridor where supply is arriving and the rental market is carrying the bill. If you buy here, the $530 rent and 4.8% vacancy are the numbers to underwrite today.
Cherrybrook: the same score, but scarcity does the work
Cherrybrook, New South Wales 2126, got to 80 through the opposite door again.
It is the most expensive suburb rated on the show at $2,565,000, and its price has been effectively flat for two years. That flatness is the story: scarcity, not cash flow.
The fundamentals show a tightly held market:
- Median house price: $2,565,000, up 1.8%
- Median rent: $1,250 a week, up 13.6%
- Gross yield: 2.53%, rising from 2.27%
- Vacancy: 2.6%
- Days on market: 12
- 120 sales in 12 months
- 79% owner occupied, 13% investor, 0.06% public housing
- Listed houses fell from 172 to 27
Hornsby’s council layer is part of the explanation. It grows at 0.94% over five years, sits at the 24th percentile for growth, builds at the 56th percentile, and sent 429 approvals in a year. Yet the council-wide mean R-Score sits at the 86th percentile.
Cherrybrook does not win on yield. It wins on scarcity, owner-occupier depth, and thin stock. The rising yield is a by-product of rent rising while price holds.
Why the same R-Score can mean different things
Tonight’s dead heat matters because it shows how two suburbs can land on the same number through opposite mechanisms.
- Eagleby: price did the moving
- Sunbury: volume and growth did the work
- Cherrybrook: scarcity and limited stock carried the score
That is why a single headline score is never enough on its own. The real question is what sits underneath it: supply pipeline, rental resilience, owner-occupier depth, stock turnover, and street-level differences.
The Ripehouse Advisory take
If you are buying for income, growth, or a balance of both, the lesson is not to chase the number — it is to understand the mechanism behind it.
Eagleby shows how fast a strong rental market can be priced down. Sunbury shows why heavy supply needs disciplined underwriting. Cherrybrook shows how scarcity can support a suburb even when the yield is low.
That is exactly why we build every suburb view through macro, council, suburb and street-level data — then translate it into a buy decision, not a headline score.
Download our no-cost Top Five Markets Report 2026 → https://www.ripehouseadvisory.com.au/lp/26/02/2026-boom-locations/access-report?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=showdown_deadheat&utm_content=showdown-deadheat
If you’re weighing whether Eagleby, Sunbury or Cherrybrook suits your strategy, the real question is whether you can underwrite the mechanism behind the 80/100 score properly; the webinar unpacks the supply, yield and scarcity drivers so you can read past the headline.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Eagleby, Sunbury and Cherrybrook all get the same 80/100 score if they are so different?
They reached 80/100 through different drivers. Eagleby’s score was affected by price rising faster than rent, Sunbury’s came from volume and growth, and Cherrybrook’s was supported by scarcity and tight stock.
What is the main risk in Eagleby for an investor looking at the current data?
The main risk is that the price surge has outpaced rent growth, which has pushed yield down to 3.45%. The rental market is still healthy, but the suburb now looks more expensive on income than it did before.
Why does Sunbury need careful underwriting even though it scored 80/100?
Sunbury is adding housing at scale, with high approvals and a 4.8% vacancy rate. That means rent levels and vacancy are the key numbers to underwrite today, rather than assuming scarcity will protect the market.
What makes Cherrybrook different from the other two suburbs?
Cherrybrook is driven by scarcity, not yield. It has very low stock, short days on market, high owner-occupier depth, and a 2.53% gross yield that has risen because rent increased while price stayed flat.
What should a buyer look at instead of just relying on the headline R-Score?
The article says to look at the mechanism behind the score: supply pipeline, rental resilience, owner-occupier depth, stock turnover and street-level differences. A single score can hide very different market conditions.
General information only. It does not take your objectives, financial situation or needs into account, and nothing here is legal, financial, taxation or investment advice specific to your circumstances.
