Every South Australian suburb’s median house price: Valuer-General

Adelaide house prices have gone from strength to strength, latest stats show. Explore the interactive map to see your suburb’s ups and downs over the past 11 years.

South Australia’s property market shows no sign of slowing down, as new Valuer General’s quarterly figures show Adelaide’s median house value has continued its climb to a record high.

Just six months ago, the Valuer-General revealed Adelaide’s median home value had eclipsed $500,000 for the first time.

Back then, they were sitting at $510,000. Now, just two quarterly reports later, they have reached $540,000 – an increase of 3.85 per cent on the previous quarter, and 13.25 per cent on this time last year.

It is the highest median value growth for a second quarter since 2010 when values rose 13.89 per cent on the previous year.

South Australia’s statewide median has also risen to new record levels.

House values were up 4.44 per cent for the quarter and 9.08 per cent over the past 12 months to $470,000.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are working on fixing a glitch affecting this interactive on our app. It is working correctly in web browsers: https://bit.ly/3yf4mYV

Real Estate Institute of South Australia chief executive officer Barry Money said for the market to have performed so strongly during a pandemic was positive, however the state government must look at reducing the add-on costs associated with buying.

“I am pleased that the South Australian real estate market continues to thrive in these challenging times, however it is essential that we find a balance moving forward which puts vendors and purchasers on a more level footing,” Mr Money said.

“We must collectively recognise that property taxation in the form of stamp duty and land tax is one of the largest barriers to housing affordability.”

Highlighting the demand seen throughout the quarter, the number of sales was also up significantly. There were 7282 sales for the quarter – in the same quarter last year there were 4796.

Adelaide city apartment values are also up – 4.23 per cent for the quarter and 6.73 per cent for the year to $555,000.

Of suburbs to have recorded at least 10 sales for both the current quarter and 2020’s second quarter, Noarlunga Downs houses showed the largest value increase.

From the 15 house sales recorded in both comparative quarters, values rose a massive 70.61 per cent from $330,000 to $563,000.

Top 20 suburbs for price increases

Magain Real Estate’s Scott McPharlin said the growth seen in the suburb could easily be explained.

“There are two different sections of Noarlunga Downs – the old Housing Trust section and the newer section which is The Point Estate and Riverview Estate – and there have been a lot more of those sales in the upper price point for the quarter,” Mr McPharlin said.

“I think Noarlunga Downs has been undervalued for many years – a lot of those homes that used to be worth $450,000 to $470,000, they’re now worth $600,000 to $670,000.

“In the past quarter, when those homes started to hit $600,000, people got excited and started trading.

David and Kylie Mills at Perry's Bend in Noarlunga Downs. Picture: Matt Turner.

“Realistically we haven’t seen that much capital growth down there since 2006, and this is the market catching up.”

Proving the pulling power of the water, West Lakes in Adelaide’s west, and the southern hotspot of Seaford, recorded the next greatest increases at 50.18 per cent and 49.7 per cent respectively.

“These suburbs are all within 1.5km from the beach, and we’re seeing a lot of people drawn to those areas because of lockdowns,” Mr McPharlin said.

“First of all, SA is attracting a lot of people from interstate and they love to be near the water because they see amazing value here, and secondly, if you are locked in a house during a lockdown, to have access to these areas for exercise and fresh air and be away from people – that’s really important to people.”

David and Kylie Mills have just sold their Noarlunga Downs home and Mr Mills said they were blown away by what their property sold for.

“It was on the market for just a week and we got $100,000 more than our reserve,” Mr Mills said.

“This whole area here has just exploded since Covid, there are a lot of people moving in.

“It has always been a strong area in The Point estate where we live and in and around Riverview estate – people love the views of the river and that that’s a protected area that will never be built on.

“They’ve always been sought-after areas and tightly held – we’ve never heard of anyone losing money in the estates.”

For quarterly growth, Unley was the best performing of the councils, with home values up 17.51 per cent to $1.3m, while Adelaide City Council was the top performer over the past 12 months, where house values soared 44.44 per cent to $1.3m.

Barmera recorded the highest value growth for the quarter for regional towns, with the median price of its 10 sales for last year’s second quarter of $195,000 rising 55 per cent to a new high of $279,000 from 14 sales this quarter.