Adelaide is nation’s third-fastest growing capital, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures reveal

Adelaide is defying decades-old trends and outgrowing the country’s biggest cities, official figures reveal.

Adelaide is overturning decades of sluggishness to become the nation’s third-fastest growing capital city, official figures reveal, fuelled by booming overseas migration.

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the South Australian capital defying a 50-year trend to grow at 1.1 per cent, behind Perth (1.5 per cent) and Brisbane (2.3 per cent).

The growth spurt in the 2021-22 financial year is a dramatic acceleration from Adelaide’s five-decade trend of lagging behind other cities.

According to ABS figures released last December, Adelaide had the slowest growth of any Australian capital in the past 50 years.

Crowds of shoppers in Rundle Mall. Picture: Mike Burton

But Greater Adelaide added 16,062 people in 2021-22, of which 11,513 were overseas migrants.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the growth figures demonstrated the growing strength of the state’s economy, adding this upswing required investment in services including health, education and housing.

“More people are wanting to move here because there’s more work here and that’s something my government is committed to generating but it also brings with it challenges,” he said.

“We’re seeing more activity, we see more people wanting to move here. That’s a reversal of the trend in the past. We’ve outgrown Sydney, that hasn’t happened in a very long time.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas, right, with Greg Norman, Commissioner of LIV Golf (left) and golfer Cameron Smith. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty Images

The population surge was particularly concentrated in Adelaide’s northern suburbs and fringes.

The areas with the largest growth rates were Munno Para West-Angle Vale (9 per cent), along with Lewiston-Two Wells (6.8 per cent) and Virginia-Waterloo Corner (6.7 per cent).

The expansion continues bullish data released in March, which showed SA’s population had risen by more than 25,000 people in a single year – marking the second-biggest increase on record.

The population grew by 1.4 per cent to 1.83 million over the year that ended in September 2022, the ABS said.

Opposition Leader David Speirs said international migration increased because of the state’s comparatively safe handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and now presented a chance to alleviate skills shortages, particularly pronounced in the regions.

“However, this is merely one piece of a bigger puzzle and Peter Malinauskas must put huge emphasis on housing and increasing supply to ensure first homeowners and low-income earners aren’t squeezed out of the market because of increased high demand,” he said.

Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said: “We can’t have young people and essential workers unable to work in our city because they can’t access housing. So, I want Council to find ways to work with property owners and other levels of government to address this, including repurposing buildings that are under-utilised.”