Adelaide tops Brisbane for property sales momentum: Terry Ryder

Adelaide tops Brisbane for property sales momentum: Terry Ryder
Terry RyderDecember 17, 2020

If you looked only at the generalised data excreted by research company computers, you’d think not much is going on in Adelaide.

According to one set of figures, house values are up 3.9 percent in annual terms and units 3.6 percent. But Adelaide is busier and more vibrant than those numbers indicate, particularly when you look at sales activity.

Adelaide started 2016 in solid fashion and continues to be one of the strongest city markets in the nation. The steady start to the year is encouraging, given that the March Quarter is typically the period that produces the smallest number of sales in the South Australian market.

Adelaide currently has more suburbs with rising sales momentum than Brisbane does, although it’s a smaller city, and considerably more than Sydney now does.

Generally, Adelaide had a solid year in 2015. Each of the four quarters had sales activity on a par with, or higher than, the corresponding period a year earlier. The June and September quarters were both substantially higher than the year before.

This continues a pattern of steadily rising sales over the past three years. In 2013 the SA market recorded between 7,000 and 7,500 dwelling sales per quarter. In 2014 sales rose above 8,000 per quarter and in 2015 every quarter was above 9,000 sales. The current year looks like continuing the pattern.

Our research for The Price Predictor Index shows that the growth suburbs in Adelaide are primarily middle-market areas and outer-ring precincts, with few top-end markets standing out.

The No.1 municipality is now the Port Adelaide Enfield LGA, one of the largest municipalities in Adelaide, covering the inner north and north-west of the city. Eight suburbs in this LGA having rising sales patterns, mostly suburbs with median house prices in the range from $380,000 to $510,000. They include Broadview, Northgate, Windsor Gardens and Largs Bay.

The Onkaparinga LGA, which always features as one of the strongest markets, has six growthsuburbs and six markets with steady sales activity in the far south of the Adelaide metropolitan area.

Many of the more active precincts are middle-market areas. The Charles Sturt LGA, which includes bayside suburbs like Henley Beach and West Beach, has seven suburbs with upward momentum. Growth markets include Findon, Kidman Park, Seaton and Semaphore Park.

The Tea Tree Gully LGA in the north-eastern suburbs stands out in most of our surveys as a highly consistent market. It now has six suburbs with steady sales patterns, plus five that are rising– including Hope Valley, Modbury and Ridgehaven.

The Holdfast Bay LGA has four Rising Steadily markets, including the bayside Glenelg suburbs and Somerton Park.

Another thing worth considering about Adelaide is the rental yields on offer. With negative gearing in the firing line in this long and boring Election campaign, cities that can offer higher rental yields become more appealing. If you borrow at 4 percent to buy a property returning 6 percent, negative gearing becomes a non-issue.

The cheaper precincts in the Adelaide metropolitan area provide houses with median yields between 6 percent and 7 percent. Areas that are slightly more expensive typically have yields in the 5.5 percent to 6 percent range.

 Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au. You can email him or follow him on Twitter.

Terry Ryder

Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au.

Editor's Picks