The consistently solid performance for which Adelaide is now renowned is evident in the results of our latest survey of sales activity.
We do these surveys four times a year and the latest one, the Winter survey, shows that Adelaide has remained steady at a time when other markets have faltered.
In these surveys, we give a ranking to each suburb based on the trends with sales volumes, which are a forward indicator of what might happen with prices.
There has been only a marginal deterioration in the overall position of the Adelaide market, compared to our Autumn survey three months ago.
There is a slight increase in the number of suburbs with a negative ranking, but a majority of Adelaide suburbs still have positive classifications.
Indeed, our survey has found the highest number of consistency locations in Adelaide in the eight years of our quarterly surveys – and it’s this steadiness of performance which has become Adelaide’s trademark.
This means that Adelaide, after two years (from mid-2020 to mid-2022) in which sales activity kept rising and rising, is now dominated by locations where sales volumes are no longer increasing but have remained consistent at high levels.
This remarkable level of consistency in the Adelaide market has been achieved despite all the economic disruption in the background, including those multiple increases in interest rates facilitated by the Reserve Bank.
In one of Adelaide’s busiest markets, the City of Playford in the affordable northern suburbs, there is now only one suburb classified as a rising market but seven ranked as consistency markets. In middle-market Tea Tree Gully, there are only two rising suburbs but seven consistency ones.
This is now the dominant pattern in the Adelaide market, which has continued to deliver price growth at a time when the larger cities have experienced falling prices.
According to the latest Price Index from SQM Research, the median house price for Adelaide has increased 11% in the past 12 months, while the median price for apartments has risen 21%.
This at a time when all the major bank economists forecast major decreases in property prices in Adelaide and everywhere else.
One of the key factors keeping the Adelaide property market so buoyant is the strength of the underlying economy.
In the latest edition of the State of the States report published by CommSec, which ranks all the state and territory economies based on seven key metrics, South Australia was the second strongest economy in the nation.
The other key factor attracting consistently high buyer demand to Adelaide is the city’s affordability, relative to the bigger capital cities.
The median dwelling price in Adelaide – according to CoreLogic – is around $650,000, compared to over $1 million in Sydney, $840,000 in Canberra, $750,000 in Melbourne and $705,000 in Brisbane.
Adelaide continues to have the lowest vacancy rate among the capital cities – just 0.6% currently, according to SQM Research, and residential rents have increased 12% in the past year.
So, overall, Adelaide provides an attractive equation for property investors – affordable prices, low vacancy rates and rising rents, underpinned by one of the nation’s strongest economies.
