SA’s mortgage-free hotspots revealed

Almost $1.8 trillion worth of SA residential property is currently mortgage free. And where these homes are located may surprise you. Explore our debt-free hotspots here.

Almost $1.8 trillion worth of South Australian residential property is currently mortgage free, with new data revealing the suburbs with the greatest value of unencumbered wealth.

The report by SuburbTrends includes data for 781 suburbs and towns across SA and shows South Australia has $1,799,698,109,013 worth of paid off homes, with Prospect revealed as the suburb with the highest total value of mortgage-free homes, at more than $1.824bn worth of residential properties whose owners no longer affected by interest rate rises.

Almost $1.8 trillion of residential property across SA is currently mortgage-free. Picture: Stephen Brookes

According to the data, 1452 of the suburb’s houses are fully paid off, while 183 units are mortgage-free.

Morphett Vale wasn’t far behind with more than $1.591bn of unencumbered properties – 2486 paid-off houses and 262 paid-off units – while West Lakes came in third with 967 mortgage-free houses and 262 units totalling more than $1.532bn.

Hallett Cove, Somerton Park, Mount Gambier, Athelstone, Rostrevor, Fulham Gardens and Flagstaff Hill rounded out the top 10, all with more than $1.145bn worth of unencumbered properties each.

Report author Kent Lardner said mortgage-free housing was a vital component of the property market and that intergenerational wealth transfer via property was crucial to help younger generations in gaining financial stability and enter “a very tough housing market”.

“The representation of both high-value suburbs like Prospect and affordable areas like Mount Gambier underscores the varied landscape of property wealth in the state,” he said.

Mr Lardner said seeing so many suburbs with thousands of homes without a mortgage was “impressive”.

Suburb Trends founder Kent Lardner.

“Growth rates in many of the regional suburbs since 2020 have been astronomical,” he said.

“Many of these locations before 2020 offered houses well under the $500,000 mark, making it much easier for buyers to purchase with cash.

“Others with smaller mortgages carried over from purchases made 20 or more years ago could also leverage the low interest rates between 2010 through to 2020 to pay off mortgages.

“It’s vital to acknowledge those without access to this wealth, highlighting the need for ongoing broader economic and housing reforms, including social housing.”

Originally published as SA’s mortgage-free hotspots revealed