30-06-2025
House prices in regional SA nearly double in five years according to PropTrack data
Regional house prices in South Australia recorded the highest 12-month growth of all states and territories in June, according to real estate research group PropTrack.
The increase of 14.9 per cent meant the median price of a home outside Adelaide nearly doubled in the past five years, growing 94.7 per cent.
Despite that, the monthly Home Price Index, published on Tuesday, revealed regional SA remained the second-most affordable destination for homebuyers with an average dwelling priced at $461,000.
The median home price across the nation is sitting at $821,000, and in regional areas more broadly $646,000.
PropTrack senior economist and report author, Eleanor Creagh, said homebuyers considering options outside of capital cities were driving the growth.
"More affordable regions in lower and mid-tier markets are really continuing to outperform, and that relative affordability is likely one of the drivers behind why we're seeing such strong price growth in regional South Australia," she said.
"Of course, lifestyle appeal is likely one of the factors, alongside population growth, but I'd say that relative affordability is probably the driving force."
Ray White Yorke Peninsula sales representative Scott Bockmann said the majority of homes he sold in the past five years had been snatched up within two or three weeks of going on the market.
"If you go back to 2019 and the seven or eight years leading up to that, it wasn't uncommon for properties to be on the market for 12 months plus," Mr Bockmann said.
"So you really need to act sooner rather than later, have your ducks in a row in terms of finance, pre-approvals, otherwise there's a lot of instances of you snooze, you lose."
Mr Bockmann said many homes going to market were existing dwellings rather than new builds.
"I've heard a few horror stories of people building new homes and by the time they sign the contract, up it goes by $30k because of the time and delay in getting it built," he said.
"It's certainly established homes, which is definitely driving up the prices of those properties."
As part of the state government's Housing Roadmap policy, most of the new land openings and dwellings built in SA over the past few years have been concentrated in priority areas north and south of Adelaide, where utilities infrastructure is more accessible.
The roadmap blames "demand outstripping the ability of a housing supply system to respond", in turn caused by economic growth, a migration rebound after the COVID pandemic and a rise in single-person living.
Policy changes and re-zoning have opened the potential of 61,000 new homes, according to a government update in May, while estimating the state will need 315,000 new homes by mid-century.
