Get a property report and suburb profile for any property in Riverstone

Riverstone sits on the Hawkesbury floodplain where a rural past meets steady suburban growth. The town centre keeps character through older brick and weatherboard buildings and a local shopping strip, while surrounding streets mix workers' cottages and more recent family-oriented housing estates. Light industrial areas at the edge give a working-town feel. The suburb has its own station on the Richmond line, river and park recreation, community facilities and roomier lots for a semi-rural lifestyle. The community numbers 8,627 people, has a median age of 32 and a typical household income of $2,138 a week, and is a suburb of families with about two in three households owner-occupied.

The town centre has been rezoned to concentrate new housing close to the station and to enable a significant increase in homes and local jobs, along with a new main street, more open space and measures to improve flood resilience. The masterplan also sets aside space for a library, community centre, childcare and an aquatic centre, and nearby schools have upgrade projects underway. Whether Riverstone suits you will come down to whether you want roomy, semi-rural living with growing town-centre services and good rail links.

At a median house price of $1,150,000, buying a house in Riverstone works out to about 10.3 times a typical local household's annual income at the last Census, which sits well above local incomes on the price-to-income measure. Renting looks less stretched by comparison: a house rent of $750 a week would take about 35.1% of a typical local household's weekly income at the last Census, a sizeable share, while a unit rent of $528 a week would take about 24.7%, a moderate share.

On these figures, buying a house is considerably more stretched against what people locally earned at the last Census, while renting—especially a unit—appears the less stretched option. Whether that feels expensive depends on your own income and circumstances.

Everyone's financial situation is different, so it's important to consider your own circumstances when deciding which suburb is right for you.

If you're weighing Riverstone as an investment, the past year shows house prices and rents moved in step: median house values rose 7.0% while house rents climbed 7.1%. Unit rents also increased, up 5.6%, so the rent a house earns has edged ahead of the rent a unit earns this year.

Put simply, the numbers show both capital growth for houses and higher rental income over the 12 months, with house rents the slightly stronger performer; which of those matters to you depends on your own goals and circumstances.

This information has been prepared without taking your objectives, needs and overall financial situation into account. It is not meant to be a substitute for professional financial advice. For this reason, you should consider the appropriateness of the information and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice.