Adelaide flies under radar to outperform other capital city property markets
While cities like Perth and Brisbane have dominated much of the conversation around the booming capital city real estate markets, it's Adelaide property that has snuck up the leaderboard to overtake the pack.
Australia’s most remarkable property market has delivered solid price growth over and over again, but for some reason it continues to fly under the radar of many investors.
Adelaide has been a growth market for longer than any other jurisdiction in Australia, and it remains so.
While much of the commentary focused on “red hot” markets like Perth in the past two years, Adelaide was still there, just quietly delivering solid results month after month.
Hotspotting’s latest analysis of sales activity indicates buyer demand continues to rise in most parts of the Adelaide market, with rising transaction levels a good indicator for future price growth.
Sales volumes have risen quarter by quarter over the past year, with an 18 per cent rise in the December quarter. Adelaide sales levels are now 37 per cent higher than 12 months earlier and are higher than the 2021 Covid boom levels.
More than half of Adelaide’s suburbs have positive ratings in terms of transaction levels in our latest Price Predictor Index.
LGAs which stand out with a high percentage of positive markets include Marion, Charles Sturt, Mitcham, Onkaparinga, Port Adelaide Enfield, Tea Tree Gully and Salisbury. Tea Tree Gully LGA is one of the strongest municipalities in Adelaide.
South Australian economic transformation
Long gone are the days when Adelaide was regarded as a no-growth city in a no-growth state economy.
Much has changed and today Adelaide has a long-term capital growth record superior to most places across the nation – and it’s ranked as one of the nation’s leading economies.
Late in 2024 PIPA published research revealing the markets in Australia that delivered the highest capital growth over 20 years. The best among the eight capital cities was Adelaide. Adelaide’s median house price increased 4.1 times, from $166,000 to $680,000. Adelaide’s median house prices have risen 55 per cent in the past five years.
Most Adelaide suburbs have averaged better than 10 per cent a year over the past five years, with many averaging 15 per cent or more. In 2024, Adelaide house prices rose 13 per cent while unit prices lifted 17 per cent.
One of the standout characteristics of the Adelaide market is its consistency. Buyer demand has been consistently strong over the past five years, and prices have kept on growing.
Adelaide’s median dwelling price is now higher than Melbourne, as well as Perth, Hobart and Darwin - and not much below Brisbane.
The reason the Adelaide property market is doing so well is that it is underpinned by a great state economy, which has been consistently ranked by CommSec, as the best or second best in the nation over the past couple of years.
The city offers an appealing lifestyle with its beaches, hills district and multiple wine regions and it still offers relative affordability, although it’s steadily becoming more expensive. It also has a vacancy rate well below 1 per cent, one of the lowest in the nation and a good record of creating jobs.
Investors considering Adelaide need to keep in mind that this market has had a number of years of price growth and appears well advanced in the current cycle.
But, at this point, buyer demand and prices continue to grow.
