Listed: What your suburb is now worth

Adelaide homeowners have $800,000 reasons to celebrate, with the latest Valuer-General’s figures showing Adelaide’s median house value has reached a record high, closing the gap on a once booming Melbourne market.

The Valuer-General’s figures for the three months to September show Adelaide’s median value increased 1.91 per cent, or $15,000, on the previous quarter and 12.36 per cent, or $88,000, over the past 12 months to a record high $800,000.

In comparison, the once streets-ahead markets of Melbourne is now, according to Victoria’s Valuer-General, just $60,000 ahead of SA – a gap previously considered inconceivable.

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The statewide median house value has also climbed – to a record $723,000.

This is up 1.83 per cent, or $13,000 over the past quarter, and 13.5 per cent, or $86,000, over the past 12 months.

Real Estate Institute of South Australia chief executive officer Andrea Heading said while the number of sales for the quarter – 6128 – had expectedly dropped from the previous quarter’s 6542, it remained well above the 5586 recorded for the same quarter last year.

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“Once again, we have smashed the record median price across South Australia,” she said.

“This clearly shows that purchasers are willing to enter the real estate market and purchase premium properties that are realistically and transparently priced.”

According to the report, the median metropolitan unit value is also up 2.22 per cent or $12,750, over the past quarter, and 17.55 per cent, or $87,750, over the past 12 months to a $587,750 median.

One of the report’s star performers was city units and apartments. They have increased by a whopping $63,5000 over the past three months to $550,000, and are up $88,000 or 19.05 per cent on this time last year.

“South Australia’s real estate market continues to do astonishingly well despite the continuing low supply of housing stock and the prevailing high interest rates,” Ms Heading said.

“We look forward to interest rates coming down in 2025 to encourage first home buyers back into the market and the realisation of the State Government’s commitment to increasing housing stock and easing affordability concerns.”

Of suburbs to have recorded at least 10 sales for this year and last’s first quarters, the southern suburb of Marion recorded the greatest percentage increase, with the median up 47.95 per cent, or $309,500, to $955,000.

This is from 16 sales last quarter and 10 in the previous quarter – experts consider 10 sales to be sufficient in calculating a statistically reliable average.

Ray White Marion agent Samuel Paton said he was not surprised by Marion’s growth and said there was more to come.

“Some of the surrounding suburbs like Brighton, Somerton Park, Glengowrie and Warradale have boomed and Marion’s getting the overflow of buyers that have been priced out of those areas – our open home attendance numbers have close to doubled over the past few years,” he said.

“We’re quite routinely seeing fairly basic three-bed, one-bath homes selling well into the nines and there have been a number of sales recently for over $1m which we wouldn’t have imagined a few years ago.”

Cate and Jon Glynn, 62 and 63 respectively, are currently selling their 9 Seccafien Ave, Marion home of 12 years and Mrs Glynn said the couple have seen enormous change in the suburb in that time.

“There’s a lot of development going on at the moment – everything here has sold within three or four weeks based on what we see on our walks,” she said.

“House prices have really soared in this time, and we’re hoping we’ll get a good price.”

For regional buyers, the figures show Port Augusta houses have had the greatest increase over the past three months – up $20,000 or 8.79 per cent for the quarter to $247,500, while Murray Bridge houses experienced the greatest rise over the past 12 months.

House vales here are up $86,500 or 21.76 per cent to $484,000.

The report, however, comes as a further blow to those struggling to enter the market, as the gap between the haves and the have-nots widens.

South Australian Council of Social Service CEO Ross Womersley said young people who are imagining purchasing into the housing market will have their expectations deflated enormously.

“If the price of housing is increasing so astronomically, investors who are purchasing into the housing market will be seeking to get returns on rentals that mean that rents will be under even more pressure, leaving low income and even moderate income households in positions where they simply can’t afford to either buy into the market or find a rent that is affordable given their incomes,” he said.

“This is why SACOSS and organisations like Shelter SA have been repeatedly calling on the government to not just be building hundreds of houses in public and community housing each year, but literally thousands in order to impact the market sufficiently to mediate some of these huge increases in costs.”

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