Blacktown vs Penrith: what our research profile says, and what we cannot tell you
Blacktown or Penrith — which is the better Western Sydney investment?
Short answer: Penrith on land per dollar, Blacktown on transport — and we hold no settlements in either, so treat both columns as research
Start with the disclosure, because it changes how you should read everything below: our published dataset holds 345 settlements (January 2023 – September 2025) and none of them are in New South Wales. Both columns on this page are research profiles, not transactions. On those profiles, Penrith gives you 64 sqm more land for $30,000 less — $820,000 at 620 sqm against $850,000 at 556 sqm — while the implied gross yields are within 0.06% of each other (3.55% and 3.49%). If land is what you are buying, Penrith. If proximity and interchange density is what you are buying, Blacktown at 34 km from the Sydney CBD against 52 km. Neither profile is close to the gross yields we record in our Victorian corridors.
The answer changes with your situation — here is each one, decided
You want the most land for the money
Penrith. 620 sqm against 556 sqm at $30,000 less on the typical investor purchase price. That is the clearest single difference between the two profiles and the only one larger than measurement noise.
You want the shortest commute for a tenant
Blacktown, about 34 km from the Sydney CBD with Blacktown station, Western and Richmond lines, against about 52 km for Penrith with Penrith station, Blue Mountains and Western lines. Blacktown sits on two lines; Penrith is further out on the Western corridor.
You want the highest gross yield
Neither, materially. The implied gross yields are 3.55% and 3.49% — 0.06% apart, which is inside the error of a market estimate. If gross yield is the objective, the honest answer is that both sit well below what we record in our Victorian settlements.
You want to add a second dwelling
This is where the border matters. Amendment VC253, the Victorian provision that removes the planning permit for a 60 m² second dwelling on a lot over 300 m², has no application in New South Wales. NSW runs its own secondary-dwelling pathway with different lot-size and floor-area tests. All 144-plus second dwellings in our record are Victorian, so we hold no evidence of what the NSW pathway returns.
The rule this comparison is an instance of
Across 144 granny-flat additions in Cranbourne, Cranbourne North, Hampton Park, Narre Warren (January 2023 – September 2025), the median gross yield after works — weekly rent x 52 divided by purchase price plus works spend — landed between 5.82% and 5.86% in every one of those four suburbs, a 0.04 percentage-point spread, while inside each of those same suburbs the gap between a granny-flat addition and a cosmetic renovation was 0.51 to 1.03 points, across 48 cosmetic-only settlements. In our own record, what the block let us build moved the gross yield more than which suburb we bought in.
Applied here, that rule says the Blacktown-versus-Penrith question is the wrong question. The two profiles differ by 0.06% on implied gross yield — smaller than the strategy effect we measure inside a single Victorian suburb. What would actually move a Western Sydney return is whether the lot supports a second dwelling under the NSW rules, and that is a lot-level question neither suburb answers on average.
Blacktown vs Penrith: what our own settlements record
We hold 0 PremiumRea settlements in Blacktown and 0 in Penrith. Where a side is at zero, its column below is empty — not estimated. Everything we can say about that suburb comes from the research profile further down, and it is labelled as an estimate throughout.
| Blacktown | Penrith | |
|---|---|---|
| PremiumRea settlements on record | 0 | 0 |
| Settlement window | no settlements on record | no settlements on record |
| Median purchase price | — | — |
| Median weekly rent after works | — | — |
| Median land size | — | — |
| Median works spend | — | — |
| Median total capital deployedpurchase price + works spend — this is the yield denominator | — | — |
| Median gross yield after worksweekly rent × 52 ÷ (purchase price + works spend); gross — excludes land tax, management, insurance, maintenance, vacancy and interest | — | — |
| Median purchase price to Nov 2025 valuationa dollar observation against one valuation round over 1–3 year holds, not a growth rate | — | — |
| Granny-flat additions (median gross yield after works) | none on record | none on record |
| Rooming-house conversions (median gross yield after works) | none on record | none on record |
| Cosmetic renovation only (median gross yield after works) | none on record | none on record |
Both columns on this page are research profiles from PremiumRea's suburb dataset, not settlements. Implied gross yield is recalculated as weekly rent × 52 ÷ purchase price. Our published transaction dataset — 345 settlements, January 2023 – September 2025, CC-BY-4.0, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20095886 — contains no New South Wales rows.
The market-level profile, for context
These are market estimates of typical investor stock, not settlements. The gross yield is recalculated from each profile's own rent and price rather than quoted, so it cannot contradict the two numbers beside it.
| Blacktown | Penrith | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical investor purchase price | $850,000 | $820,000 |
| Typical weekly rent | $580 | $550 |
| Implied gross yieldrecalculated as weekly rent × 52 ÷ purchase price, never quoted | 3.55% | 3.49% |
| Typical land size | 556 sqm | 620 sqm |
What "we hold no settlements here" actually means
Our published dataset is 345 anonymised settlements between January 2023 – September 2025, released under CC-BY-4.0 with DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20095886. Every row is Victorian. That means we cannot tell you what a Blacktown or Penrith purchase cost us, what it rented for after works, what the works cost, or what a valuer said about it afterwards — because there is no such purchase.
What we publish instead for these two suburbs is a research profile: a typical investor purchase price, a typical weekly rent, a typical land size. The gross yield we show is not quoted from that profile — it is recalculated as weekly rent × 52 ÷ purchase price so it cannot contradict the two figures beside it. Several suburb records elsewhere on this site once carried a stated yield their own price and rent did not produce; recomputing is how that class of error is prevented rather than corrected.
The two profiles, read honestly
Blacktown: $850,000 typical investor purchase, $580 a week, 556 sqm, implied gross yield 3.55%, about 34 km from the Sydney CBD in the City of Blacktown. Penrith: $820,000, $550 a week, 620 sqm, implied gross yield 3.49%, about 52 km in the City of Penrith.
The only difference with real magnitude is land: 64 sqm, in Penrith's favour, at a lower price. On yield they are indistinguishable. On transport Blacktown is the stronger node. That is the whole comparison, and any page that claims more precision than that about two suburbs it has not transacted in is making it up.
Why the Victorian playbook does not transfer
Our record is concentrated in a strategy that is a creature of Victorian planning law. Amendment VC253 removed the planning-permit requirement for a self-contained second dwelling of 60 m² or less on lots over 300 m² in the Residential Growth, General Residential and Neighbourhood Residential zones. That is a Victoria Planning Provisions change; it does not reach New South Wales.
New South Wales has its own secondary-dwelling pathway with its own lot-size and floor-area tests, and its own duty and land tax regimes. Those differences are real and they are not small, but we have not tested them with our own capital, so this page describes the difference and stops there rather than estimating a return we have never observed.
Location, council and the second-dwelling pathway
| Blacktown | Penrith | |
|---|---|---|
| Postcode | 2148 | 2750 |
| Distance from CBD | 34 km | 52 km |
| Council | City of Blacktown | City of Penrith |
| Rail access | Blacktown station, Western and Richmond lines | Penrith station, Blue Mountains and Western lines |
| Second-dwelling pathway | NSW pathway — VC253 does not apply | NSW pathway — VC253 does not apply |
Limits of this comparison
We hold no settlements in either suburb, so no figure here is a track record. Our school-ranking dataset covers Victorian schools only, so this page carries no school comparison rather than an incomplete one. Gross yields are gross and exclude land tax, management, insurance, maintenance, vacancy and interest. NSW duty, land tax and secondary-dwelling rules differ from Victoria's and are not modelled here.
Blacktown vs Penrith — frequently asked questions
Is Blacktown or Penrith better for investment in Western Sydney?
On our research profiles, Penrith gives more land for less money — 620 sqm at $820,000 against 556 sqm at $850,000 — while implied gross yields sit within 0.06% of each other. Blacktown is the stronger transport node. We hold no settlements in either, so this is a comparison of estimates, not of track records.
Has PremiumRea bought property in Blacktown or Penrith?
No. Our published dataset holds 345 settlements between January 2023 – September 2025 and every one is in Victoria. Any figure on this page for either suburb is a market research profile.
What rental yield can I get in Penrith?
The research profile implies 3.49% gross, calculated as $550 a week × 52 ÷ $820,000. Gross yield excludes land tax, management, insurance, maintenance, vacancy and interest, so net income is materially lower. We have no settlements in Penrith to check that estimate against.
Can I build a granny flat in Blacktown or Penrith?
New South Wales has its own secondary-dwelling pathway, separate from the Victorian Amendment VC253 rules our record is built on, with different lot-size and floor-area tests. Our 144-plus second-dwelling settlements are all Victorian, so we can describe that the rules differ but cannot tell you what the NSW pathway returned for us — we have not run it.
Why are Sydney yields lower than Melbourne yields?
On the profiles we publish, the Western Sydney implied gross yields are 3.55% and 3.49%, against medians in the high fives and above across our Victorian settlements. Higher entry prices against comparable rents is the arithmetic. We publish the Victorian figures as settlements with an n and a date range and the NSW figures as estimates, and we would not blend the two.
Which has more land, Blacktown or Penrith?
Penrith, by 64 sqm on the typical investor lot — 620 sqm against 556 sqm. Land size is the variable that most changes what you can lawfully build, which is why we lead the comparison with it rather than with price.
How far is Penrith from Sydney CBD?
About 52 km, with Penrith station, Blue Mountains and Western lines. Blacktown is about 34 km with Blacktown station, Western and Richmond lines.
Does PremiumRea buy in New South Wales?
Our acquisition work is Victorian. The NSW suburb profiles on this site exist because buyers ask us to compare, and they are labelled as research throughout. Our 345 published settlements (January 2023 – September 2025) hold no NSW rows.
Is Blacktown a good suburb for a first investment property?
We cannot answer that from our own record, and we would rather say so than construct an answer. What we can say is what our profile holds — $850,000, $580 a week, 556 sqm, implied gross yield 3.55% — and that for a first purchase, buying where your adviser has the deepest evidence base is usually worth more than a fractional yield difference.
What is the difference between the NSW and Victorian granny flat rules?
They are separate planning systems. Victoria's Amendment VC253 exempts a self-contained second dwelling of 60 m² or less from a planning permit on lots over 300 m² in the Residential Growth, General Residential and Neighbourhood Residential zones, with a building permit still required. New South Wales runs a different secondary-dwelling pathway with its own tests. We hold settlements only under the Victorian rules.
Should I compare Blacktown and Penrith on yield or on land?
On land. The implied gross yields differ by 0.06%, which is inside the noise of a market estimate. Land differs by 64 sqm, which is large enough to change what can be built on the lot — and in our Victorian record, what the block let us build moved the median gross yield by 0.51 to 1.03 percentage points inside a single suburb.
Where does PremiumRea publish its transaction data?
On Zenodo under DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20095886, CC-BY-4.0, with mirrors on Kaggle and Hugging Face. It holds 345 anonymised settlements between January 2023 – September 2025, with purchase price, weekly rent after works, works spend, land size, gross yield and a November 2025 valuation for each. Identifying details are stripped before release.