Valuer-General’s figures: What your home is worth

Adelaide’s median house value has dropped for the first time since June 2020. Search our interactives to see how much your home is worth, how much it has changed over the past 20 years, and how much it has earned or lost per hour over the past year.

Slowed by seven consecutive months of interest rate rises, Adelaide has recorded its first quarterly home value loss since June 2020, prompting the Real Estate Institute of South Australia to suggest the boom is coming to an end.

The Valuer-General’s latest records for the year’s third quarter show Adelaide home values posted a 1.65 per cent drop to a $654,000 median from the previous quarter’s $665,000 but are still up 16.79 per cent on this time last year, where Adelaide’s median house price was sitting at $560,000.

Suburbs with less than ten sales for a quarter are deemed to have insufficient data to form a reliable median. The median is the midpoint of a series of sales, and as such, a data pool of less than 10 can lead to too wild a fluctuation to form an accurate median. Suburbs with 0 sales recorded for the quarter have been omitted. A suburb median is a guide as to the overall value of a suburb, and not necessarily a guarantee your home will sell for that. Please interpret all interactives with this in mind.

Statewide, home values were up slightly – up 0.88 per cent to $575,000 – and are still up 18.56 per cent on the same quarter last year.

Real Estate Institute of South Australia interim chief executive Cain Cooke said the value decline did not come as a shock.

Select multiple suburbs to chart their growth over the past 22 years. This tool can be used to compare and contrast a number of suburbs on your househunting wishlist and can help you make an informed investment decision.

“REISA expected the median price and the volume of sales to be down this quarter but we are pleasantly surprised that they did not fall as much as some commentators were predicting,” he said.

“I think we’ll see a softening again next quarter – I don’t think we’ll see a huge dip, but I think we’ll see a small retraction again over the quarter.

“It’ll take us a couple of consecutive quarters to be really confident that that’s what’s going on, but the signs are there that the boom is coming to an end.”

The interactive below shows how much a median-priced home in your suburb has made or lost per hour over the past year. Again, consider the sales volumes to ascertain the accuracy of this data. 10 or more is the magic number here for optimum reliability.

Reflecting both a cooling market and a lack of available stock, the number of sales statewide and across metro Adelaide dropped by 11.2 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively from last quarter.

“While the volume of sales was clearly down, this is entirely attributable to the current economic climate and the substantial interest rate rises that have been happening for a few months now,” Mr Cooke said.

“Despite this, the median price and sales data continue to hold strong and once again show the underlying resilience of the real estate marketplace.”

But Mr Cooke added that continued quarterly losses could bode well for first homebuyers.

“If we do start to see a handbrake on the market then that will start to create more opportunities for them to come in,” he said.

While metro Adelaide’s house price recorded a median value drop for the quarter, units fared better, up 3.53 per cent and up 10 per cent year-on-year.

City apartment values were down 9.28 per cent for the quarter, while Unley council recorded the greatest rise in median house price for the quarter – up 8.85 per cent.

Harcourts Packham’s James Packham.

Turner Real Estate’s Lachlan Turner.

Harcourts Packham director James Packham said, with another interest rate rise expected before Christmas, refinancing your home loan may be an option to get on top of increases to your mortgage repayments, and that SA homes were still great investments.

“Looking into a more competitive rate or exploring a fixed rate may give you more certainty on your repayments as rates rise.,” he said.

“South Australia currently has the lowest vacancy rate in the country at just 0.9 per cent with properties averaging 16 days on realestate.com.au.

“Rental prices have seen an increase of 3.4 per cent over the September 2022 period, up 12.5 per cent year on year.”

Turner Real Estate managing director Lachlan Turner said Adelaide’s strong market had helped mitigate greater value loss.

“Resilience – this is the key word to describe the Adelaide real estate market,” he said.

“Adelaide is in a good position to remain strong.”

Siblings Anthony Martini and Maria Martini at their family home for sale in Vale Park. Picture: MATT LOXTON

Suburbs ahead of the rest

While some Adelaide suburbs recorded a value loss for the past quarter, many homeowners still had plenty of reasons to smile.

Of the suburbs to have recorded at least 10 sales for both 2022’s third quarter and the same quarter last year, Vale Park homeowners were the state’s biggest winners.

The Walkerville council suburb’s median value increased by 56.88 per cent over the past 12 months to $1.3225m, up from $843,000 this time last year.

This is a value growth of $479,500 – meaning the home made $1313.70 per day, or $54.74 per hour every hour over the past 12 months.

The suburb had 13 recorded sales for the quarter, and 10 for the same quarter last year.

Interior design worker Anthony Martini, 62, and sister Maria Toccetti (pictured) are selling their mother’s home at 29 Ilford St and Mr Martini said he wasn’t surprised to hear the suburb had been a strong performer.

“Mum bought it in 1967 and there’s been a lot of change in that time – there are a lot of luxury homes there now, it’s really evolved,” he said, adding it was a sought-after area.