Best suburbs to invest in Adelaide 2024

Thinking of investing in property in Adelaide? Then you will want to know how the South Australian capital performed in 2023 - and what key players are forecasting for this market in 2024. 

Adelaide is not typically known for a particularly lively market, but the strong growth over recent years has upended many preconceived notions. Read on for what property experts and the big banks are predicting for the year ahead - together with a selection of top-performing Adelaide suburbs to add to your shortlist.

What did the Adelaide property market look like in 2023?

The past year was a tale of two cities, for state capitals - with Adelaide amongst those where affordability, strong population growth and tight supply helped drive demand and kept the market competitive. 

CoreLogic data indicates that Adelaide dwelling values grew +8.8 per cent over ‘23, for a median of $711,604. This places it fourth on the leaderboard of state capitals, outperformed only by Sydney, Perth and Brisbane over the year. Much of this growth came in the last 6 months of the year, where values grew by +1 per cent or more each month. This performance is evident in data for the final quarter of the year, where values advanced +3.7 per cent. 

Break it down into dwelling types and units outperformed houses over ‘23 - +10.2 per cent vs +8.6 per cent - for media values of $484,652 and $763,606 respectively. All this has brought Adelaide dwelling values to record highs, having grown +52.3 per cent since COVID hit these shores. 

Rents are also up over the past year, with house rents up +7.3 per cent (houses), and units outperforming them, up +9.4 per cent. Gross rental yields were a respectable 3.9 per cent over the year.

Let’s now look at the year ahead for the property market in Adelaide.

Adelaide real estate forecast 2024

Experts predict more modest price increases this year, ranging from +4 per cent to +7 per cent, suggesting continued resilience in Adelaide's housing market.

NAB predicts robust growth of +6.2 per cent in Adelaide, which is only slightly down on ‘23. Head of research at CoreLogic, Eliza Owen is also bullish on Adelaide for the year ahead, seeing it as an ‘easy pick for out-performance in 2024’. She puts this down to a few factors, including limited supply, with relatively few new development projects in the pipeline to ease this. 

Domain breaks their forecast into dwelling types, predicting growth of +5 per cent for houses and just 0-+2 per cent for units. Data insights firm PropTrack forecasts ‘strong increases of between four and seven per cent’ for the Adelaide market. 

Let’s now look at house price performance and what could transpire in the year ahead.

How are Adelaide house prices expected to change in 2024?

Most experts agree that conditions in Adelaide make it very likely to perform well. These include: 

• Tight supply
• Strong population growth
• Affordability relative to other larger capital cities

Domain is forecasting house prices to advance +5 per cent over ‘24, though if interest rates rise all bets are likely to be off in that scenario. If they do this will mean they will set a new record by the end of FY24, moving past the magic $800k mark. Despite this positive outlook, they do believe this market will see more, ‘subdued growth compared to the boom time of the previous few years’.  

Interested in investing in a unit or apartment in Adelaide?

What's the Adelaide apartment market like?

As we detailed earlier in this piece, units actually outperformed houses over ‘23 - advancing +10.2 per cent vs +8.6 per cent for houses. But is this trend likely to continue, and what factors are at play in the Adelaide apartment market?

The unit market is predicted to mirror the performance of houses, with most experts forecasting more subdued growth - though still positive. Domain predicts units will only grow  0-+2 per cent in ‘24, though this will be enough to take them to new record highs. Rental vacancies remain low, which could drive demand from investors. However, if interest rates rise this will undoubtedly slow this growth momentum. Only time will tell. 

The big question about buying property in Adelaide is which suburbs are poised for growth in the year (or more) ahead.

Best suburbs to invest in Adelaide

The Real Estate Institute of South Australia (REISA) tracks top-performing suburbs using quarterly median price growth as a benchmark. Based on this the standout suburbs for the final quarter of ‘23 are: 

• Bridgewater, in the Adelaide Hills, grew +38.4 over the past year with a median dwelling value of $984,000.
• Somerton Park, bang on the beach and a neighbour to Glenelg, grew +31.3 per cent for a median value of $1,750,000.
• Noarlunga Downs, bordering the McLaren Vale wine region, grew +27.5 per cent for a median value of $625,000. 
• Smithfield Plains, another northern suburb, grew +26.67 per cent for a median value of $427,500. 
• Davoren Park, in the far northern suburbs, grew +23.49 per cent for a median value of $410,000.

Australian Property Investment (API) magazine highlights a number of suburbs in the city’s north - which they highlight as a ‘hotspot’. Factors driving this jump in property values include affordability, robust population growth, good existing infrastructure/transport links and multiple job opportunities locally.

• Virginia has posted growth of +13.8 per cent over the past year for a median value of $637,500. The vacancy rate is a very low 0.48 per cent. 
• Munno Para West has posted growth of +16.1 per cent over the past year for a median value of $476,000.
• Angle Vale has posted growth of +16.4 percent over the past year for a median value of $797,500.

While the current strengths of the Adelaide housing market may make it seem a safer option for investment, it’s important to do your own research and seek expert advice.