With shares vs. property, investors have more than 2,200 ASX stocks to choose from, and they are increasingly looking outside their own neighbourhoods for the best investment property opportunities.
With all these choices available, how do you decide which ASX stocks to buy? Or which Australian states and territories to consider for property investment?
We hope to help.
In this article pitting ASX shares vs. property, we look at the passive income aspect of investment.
We're going to compare the current gross rental property yields on offer around the country vs. the highest current dividend yields that ASX 200 stocks are trading on today, as reported by CommSec.
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Shares vs. property on passive income
Skyrocketing rents across Australia since COVID have certainly upped the passive income landlords are receiving from their investment properties.
Over the past three calendar years, rents have increased by almost 30%, according to CoreLogic data.
CoreLogic's national median rent reached $601 per week in December. This equates to a median annual passive income of $31,252 a year. That's $8,000 higher than where it was in August 2020.
Here are the current rental yields or passive income available to property investors today.
Rental returns of houses
Darwin and regional NT offer the best rental yields on houses, followed by Perth and regional WA.
| Market | Gross yield | Market | Gross yield |
| Sydney | 2.7% | Regional NSW | 4% |
| Melbourne | 3.1% | Regional VIC | 3.9% |
| Brisbane | 3.6% | Regional QLD | 4.5% |
| Adelaide | 3.7% | Regional SA | 5% |
| Perth | 4.4% | Regional WA | 6.2% |
| Hobart | 4.2% | Regional TAS | 4.5% |
| Darwin | 6.1% | Regional NT | 6.8% |
| Canberra | 3.7% |
Rental returns of apartments
Darwin and regional WA offer the best rental yields on apartments, followed by Perth and regional SA.
| Market | Gross yield | Market | Gross yield |
| Sydney | 4% | Regional NSW | 4.4% |
| Melbourne | 4.5% | Regional VIC | 4.7% |
| Brisbane | 5.1% | Regional QLD | 4.9% |
| Adelaide | 5% | Regional SA | 5.1% |
| Perth | 6.2% | Regional WA | 8.7% |
| Hobart | 4.6% | Regional TAS | 4.9% |
| Darwin | 7.4% | Regional NT | n/a |
| Canberra | 5.1% |
Which ASX 200 shares offer the highest passive income?
We ran a stock screener over the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) on CommSec to determine which shares are offering the best passive income via the highest current dividend yields.
Remember, dividend yields can change dramatically year to year. So, you'll need to do much more research to see how reliable the passive income is from each of these stocks, if any appeal to you.
Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares for current dividend yields, according to CommSec.
| Top 10 ASX 200 shares for passive income | Current dividend yield |
| Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) | 11.6% |
| New Hope Corporation Ltd (ASX: NHC) | 8.3% |
| Helia Group Ltd (ASX: HLI) | 8.1% |
| Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX: FBU) | 8% |
| Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX: IFL) | 7.8% |
| Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) | 7.7% |
| Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) | 7.4% |
| Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW) | 7.3% |
| Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX: CQR) | 7.2% |
| Nickel Industries Ltd (ASX: NIC) | 7.2% |
