SA towns, suburbs where house prices have fallen

The property market is booming but some towns and suburbs have bucked the trend. If you are looking for a bargain, here’s where to look.

2021 has been an unprecedented year for the South Australian housing market, and 2022 isn’t slowing the pace just yet.

If you are a househunter keen to buy a house on a budget, you should look at regional areas, even though there are only a handful of spots where prices have dropped in the past year.

The latest PropTrack data, that took into account only those suburbs and towns that recorded a minimum of 30 house sales in a year, shows that only 10 locations in SA have recorded a negative price growth.

7 Ebenezer Street, Jamestown is on the market for $229,000. Pic: realestate.com.au.

The historic town of Jamestown has recorded a 17.3 per cent drop in median house price in the past 12 months. At $147,000, the median house price is $428,000 less than Adelaide’s median house price.

Also bucking the price growth trend are the regional towns of Naracoorte and Kadina. Houses in Naracoorte, which is situated approximately 336km southeast of Adelaide, saw prices drop by 7.8 per cent. The median house price was recorded at $235,000.

House values in Kadina, with a median house value of $260,000, were also on the decline, down by 7.1 per cent.

For those looking for proximity to Adelaide, house prices here in Port Adelaide dipped marginally, down by 4.8 per cent in the last 12 months. They also fell in Hove (-2.0%), Peterhead (-2.1%) and Somerton Park (-0.3%).

19 Knapman Crescent, Port Adelaide is currently looking for buyers. Pic: realestate.com.au.

According to PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty, while regional areas on the eastern coast of the country have seen strong price growth, it’s quite the opposite in SA.

“One of the key reasons is that SA offers a much more affordable property market than the east coast,” Ms Flaherty said.

“Also, South Australia doesn’t have satellite cities and living within an hour of Adelaide CBD is still very appealing. So it’s not surprising to see that most of the suburbs recording drop in property prices are in the regional areas.

2/53A John Street, Woodside sold for $480,000. Pic: realestate.com.au.

“Property searches for SA on realestate.com.au are at an all-time high and they are selling equally fast. This also shows that competition among buyers is tough resulting in the price growth as well.

“While we have seen extremely strong growth last year, with the drop in the interest rate being a main driver, the price growth in the coming year will hit a plateau.

“Interest rates are likely to increase and that will impact house prices as well.”