Glenella vs Claremont vs Atwell: Which Suburb Scores 100/100?

▶ Watch the full video on YouTube: Glenella vs Claremont vs Atwell: One Scores 100/100

Three suburbs. Three very different price tags. And one of them ranks 28th out of 15,286 suburbs in Australia.

That is the point of suburb research done properly: price alone does not tell you whether you are buying a good asset. In this Glenella, Claremont and Atwell comparison, the winner is not the most expensive suburb — and that is exactly why professional data matters.

Glenella vs Claremont vs Atwell: the result was not what price suggested

Here is the headline order from this episode:

• Glenella, Queensland — R-Score 100, median house price $860,000
• Claremont, Tasmania — R-Score 86, median house price $680,086
• Atwell, Western Australia — R-Score 45, median house price $1.02 million

The most expensive suburb finished last.

That is why we do not rely on feel, hype, or suburb reputation. Ripehouse Advisory rates every suburb through four layers: the macroeconomy, the LGA, the suburb, and the street. The real story is in the data.

Why Atwell looks strong, but still finished third

Atwell in the City of Cockburn is a solid owner-occupier suburb on the surface. It has:

• 71% owner-occupied housing
• 4.03% gross yield
• 1.1% vacancy
• 11 days to rent a house
• 62 days of supply
• 77 houses sold in the 12 months to June

The median house sold for $1.02 million in June, with rent at $790 a week.

Cockburn itself has genuine strength:

• Employment diversity in the 91st percentile nationally
• Population growth in the 96th percentile
• Population grew from 115,577 to 139,499 in five years
• Non-residential building approvals sit at $3,600 per person
• Supply pressure is in the eighth percentile
• 1,405 new dwellings approved against 42,856 existing homes

But the problem is price ran ahead of fundamentals. In Atwell:

• Asking prices rose from $829,000 in January last year to $1.125 million by March this year
• Sold prices peaked at $1.06 million in April and are now $1.02 million
• Sales fell from 128 to 77 in the 12 months to June, down 40%
• Rent rose from $730 to $790 a week, up 8.2%

That is the key lesson: the rent was not the problem. Price moved faster than income support, and the market stopped clearing.

Claremont, Tasmania: the tightest rental story of the three

Claremont, Tasmania is the one north of Hobart, in the City of Glenorchy. It is the cheapest entry in this episode and it behaves like a classic supply-squeeze suburb.

At suburb level, Claremont recorded:

• Median house price of $680,000
• House yield of 4.59%
• Vacancy of 1.6%
• 12 days to rent
• 37 days of supply
• Rent of $600 a week
• 153 houses sold in 12 months

The rental growth story is notable. Rent went from $510 a week to $600 a week in 12 months, up 17.6%, and it did so in clean steps with no real reversal.

Glenorchy is a mixed picture at LGA level:

• Manufacturing, retail and health base at the 79th percentile
• LGA average R-score in the 84th percentile
• But population growth is only in the 15th percentile
• Population has fallen from 51,170 in 2022 to 50,450 now
• Net internal migration was minus 765

The reason Claremont still performs is supply is extremely tight. The LGA approved 184 dwellings against 21,058 existing homes, or 8.7 per thousand.

That tightness explains why rent rose even while the population trend is weak. But the trade-off is important: Claremont is a supply squeeze, not a growth engine.

Glenella is the standout because the data never really wavered

Glenella, Queensland in Mackay Regional Council was the clear winner. This suburb has scored 93 or better for 17 consecutive months, and four of those months were a perfect 100.

The numbers behind it are strong:

• Median house price of $860,000
• Up 14.5% in 12 months
• Gross yield of 4.69%
• Vacancy of 0.9%
• 17 days to rent
• 54 houses sold in 12 months
• 65% owner-occupied
• 21% investors
• 1.2% social housing

Mackay’s council area is the standout feature here. Employment diversity sits in the 100th percentile, the strongest in Australia out of 559 council areas measured. The top four employers are:

• Healthcare and social assistance: 12%
• Retail: 11%
• Education and training: 8%
• Construction: 7%

Population in Mackay is also growing steadily:

• 129,253 people
• Up 6.5% in five years
• Up every single year in that period
• Net internal migration is plus 25

This is not a one-industry town in the data. It is a diversified regional economy with tight vacancy and a strong yield profile.

Street-level detail is where the gaps become obvious

This is where the four-layer approach matters. A suburb-wide median can hide huge differences between streets.

Atwell’s street spread

Atwell has a wide internal spread:

• Premium streets: Tapper Road and Concord Terrace, both above $1.08 million
• Value streets: Flourish Loop at $488,000 across 15 sales, and Congenial Loop at $544,000
• Best yield pocket: 5.2% around Bartram Road
• Weakest yield pocket: 3.27% in the blocks where the median is $1.19 million

That is why the expensive pockets are the weaker investments mathematically.

Claremont’s street spread

Claremont’s spread is even wider:

• Top end: Toffolos Road and Ebden Street, around $900,000 to $925,000
• Value end: Hilton Road at $425,000, and Main Road and Box Hill Road at $462,000
• Best yield pocket: 5.08%
• Worst yield pocket: 3.22%

Social housing is concentrated, not evenly spread. The heaviest block runs at 25.2%, while plenty of blocks sit at zero.

Glenella’s street spread

Glenella has the narrowest street-to-street spread of the three:

• Premium end: Francie Drive at $1 million, Cinnamon Drive at $975,000, Gingham Street at $970,000
• Value end: Grevillea Drive at $605,000, Hill End Road at $652,000, Pioneer Street at $664,000
• Best yield blocks: 5.64% and 5.52%
• Weakest yield block: 2.89%

The narrower spread matters because it reduces the chance of accidentally buying the wrong pocket in a thin market.

The Ripehouse Advisory take

This episode is a clean reminder that what you pay and what you get are not the same question.

• If you are a yield buyer, Glenella is the strongest of the three: 4.69% yield, 0.9% vacancy, and the strongest council area in the group.
• If you are a growth buyer, Claremont is the clearest supply-tight market: rent up 17.6%, price up 33.3%, and vacancy still tight.
• If you are an owner-occupier, Atwell is the nicest lifestyle option, with 71% owner-occupied and strong amenity.

The point is not that one suburb is “good” and another is “bad”. The point is that each suburb behaves differently, and each requires a different strategy.

That is exactly why Ripehouse Advisory uses layered suburb research before money goes on the table.