SA’s most valuable suburbs revealed

New data reveals the suburbs with the greatest total value of its properties. And the results may surprise you. Find out what your suburb is worth here.

A boom in city apartment blocks has helped the CBD become Adelaide’s most valuable residential suburb.

Better known as a shopping and business precinct, the city has 13,230 dwellings – more than any other Adelaide suburb.

The housing stock is worth a combined $8.54 billion, new CoreLogic data has revealed, with units accounting for more than two-thirds of the total residential value.

Adelaide topped the list of suburbs with the greatest total value of properties. Picture: Stephen Brookes

Prospect – which has less than half the housing offered by the city – is the state’s second most valuable suburb, with its residential stock having a combined worth of $7.13 billion.

And while Morphett Vale is geographically the largest suburb in SA, it is only the third most valuable, with its 10,385 houses and units totalling $6.8 billion.

Other high value suburbs included Mount Barker (worth a combined $6.09 billion), Magill ($4.56 billion), Seaton ($4.42 billion), Hallett Cove ($4.4 billion) and Norwood ($4.37 billion).

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At the other end of the spectrum, Reid, a tiny sliver of land within the Gawler Council region and home to just 129 households, has the cheapest total housing stock, with a value of $94.23 million.

Ray White Adelaide City sales executive Marco Lai was not surprised the CBD held the most residential value and said the locale offered a good mix of housing for buyers at all price points.

Prospect also made the list, with many drawn to living near popular Prospect Rd. Supplied by Maras Group

He said first homebuyers could still reasonably expect to pick up older apartments for upwards of $450,000, while there were also multimillion dollar offerings available to investors and cashed-up buyers looking to downsize from large character homes in the suburbs.

Mr Lai said demand for city housing far exceeded supply, as increasing numbers of people sought the convenience of city living.

“We’ve seen that two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments are quite popular but there’s big demand on even one-bedroom apartments,” he said.

“You see (plans for) new apartments go up and they’re more than 80 per cent sold before (building) work has even started.”

Adelaide City Council has an ambitious plan to grow its population to 50,000 people by 2036, with several residential developments in the CBD currently under construction.

Among them is a luxury East End apartment complex that has already secured $60m in sales, including a sub-penthouse that set a new price record when it sold for $6.1m late last year.

Plans to build the CBD’s tallest skyscraper, aimed at housing hundreds of city workers, have also been announced by the state government.

The new Crowne Plaza at Mawson Lakes – just one of the attractions drawing people to the suburb. Picture: Paul Bamford

Williams Real Estate sales partner Marina Ormsby said the most valuable Adelaide suburbs, with the exception of the city, typically had high individual property prices rather than a huge number of dwellings.

She said Prospect, in particular, comprised mostly owner-occupiers who were willing to pay a premium for quality, large family homes.

“Prospect, or (postcode) 5082, has really seen some big changes in the quality of homes that are on offer and the types of home located in that suburb – there’s new builds that are of the highest quality and plenty of renovated homes that are on the higher level of the market,” she said.

“The (house) pricing in Prospect has grown beyond what I would consider the normal and well past what’s occurred in most other Adelaide suburbs.”

Norwood will always be popular, thanks to amenities like The Parade. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said the total value of the residential property market across Australia had now risen to more than $11 trillion, with multiple suburbs where the combined value of homes was more than $10 billion.

He said being in one of the most valuable suburbs would be a source of pride for many people – provided they could afford to live there, which many people likely couldn’t.

“Living in a more valuable suburb will make a difference in a social sense. People do aspire to live in more desirable areas, but in a financial sense it will depend on how much debt you have,” he said.

“Those who are in a more valuable, more expensive suburb but in debt up to their eyeballs will be in a more precarious situation.”

Adelaide’s most valuable suburbs

1. Adelaide – estimated value of housing stock $8,536 billion; 13,230 total dwellings

2. Prospect – estimated value of housing stock $7.130 billion; 6,212 total dwellings

3. Morphett Vale – estimated value of housing stock $6.796 billion; 10,385 total dwellings

4. Mount Barker – estimated value of housing stock $6.087 billion; 8,265 total dwellings

5. Magill – estimated value of housing stock $4.550 billion; 4,253 total dwellings

6. Seaton – estimated value of housing stock $4.416 billion; 4,927 total dwellings

7. Hallett Cove – estimated value of housing stock $4.402 billion; 4,776 total dwellings

8. Norwood – estimated value of housing stock $4.370 billion; 3,702 total dwellings

9. Mawson Lakes – estimated value of housing stock $4.263 billion; 5,683 total dwellings

10. Parafield Gardens – estimated value of housing stock $4.196 billion; 5,968 total dwellings.

Source: CoreLogic.