State of Markets – SA December 2011

Fast Figures

• 11.7% - average annual growth for units, Adelaide
• $290 – median weekly advertised rent for units, Adelaide
• 1.85% - quarterly growth for Adelaide units

Adelaide suburbs flagged for investors
Adelaide’s outer suburbs offer positive returns for investors on a budget, despite recent reports that Australian property is unaffordable, according to leading author and property adviser Margaret Lomas.

Ms Lomas challenged the view that the Australian property market is unaffordable, flagging Adelaide’s southern suburbs as an investment hot spot.

“There are plenty of places that you can invest in that are not only affordable but that also show all the intrinsic growth drivers,” she told Smart Property Investment “the kinds of areas where you can be confident that if you buy there, they’ll grow well in the next couple of years and they’ll also have a pretty good rental yield.

“You need to be considering markets like the outer suburbs of Adelaide and some of our regional markets in both NSW and Victoria,” Ms Lomas said.

Tea Tree Gully, Hawthorndene shine in a slow market
Tea Tree Gully and Hawthorndene have bucked the national downward trend in property values, with significant rises in their median house prices, according to the Valuer General’s quarterly property figures.

The figures show Tea Tree Gully’s median house price jumped 34.7 per cent, from $330,000 to $444,450 in the 12 months to the end of September 2011.

Hawthorndene's median house price is now $485,000, up 20.5 per cent from $402,500.

However, the data also show South Australia has not been immune from a nationwide drop in house prices, with a 2.7 per cent fall in median house prices statewide and a 10.4 per cent fall within inner city Adelaide.

Nevertheless, the drop was slight and reflected resilience in the SA market, Real Estate Institute of South Australia president Greg Nybo said.

“While days on the market might have extended out significantly, the median sales price is really holding the line,” Mr Nybo said.