Our latest Adelaide property market update, with Bronte Manuel

There’s good reason to look to the year ahead with optimism based on an extremely strong close to 2021.

At TOOP+TOOP, we sold an average of almost three properties a day over the past month, at an average sale price beyond $1.1 million.

That took the total value of sales for the period to just shy of $100m, an extraordinary result over the traditionally quieter weeks of Christmas and New Year.

While we had fewer open inspections than usual, we still attracted almost 1500 attendees to our property viewings and, significantly, more than 500 of those were categorised as new buyers.

Latest data from property market analyst CoreLogic underlines the peak selling conditions in South Australia.

Adelaide dwelling values grew by 2.6 per cent last month on the back of a quarterly rise of 7.2 per cent and an annual increase of 23.2 per cent.

As a result, home prices here continue to sit at record-high levels.

By comparison, national home values rose by 3.9 per cent for the quarter, easing from a 4.8 per cent rise in the three months to September.

While the Melbourne and Sydney markets have started to show some signs of slowing, there has been no loss of momentum in Adelaide.

That’s due to a range of factors. Housing affordability here is still less challenging, advertised stock levels remain low (around 35 per cent below the five-year average) and demographic trends continue to support housing demand.

After many months of sparse listing levels in 2021, there has been an improvement in recent times, with 12.2 per cent more dwellings hitting the market last month compared with the equivalent period 12 months earlier.

But there are still significantly fewer homes for sale in Adelaide, with total listing levels down 20.2 per cent year-on-year.

There’s no doubt strong demand has been a major factor in the record growth.

While stock levels have been low, the total number of home sales across Australia in 2021 was around 40 per cent above the decade average.

CoreLogic estimates there were approximately 653,000 house and unit settlements over the calendar year, the highest on record.

While it’s hard to suggest 2022 will mirror the record results of last year, there’s every indication the Adelaide housing market will remain very buoyant for an extended period, as demand for quality homes continues to outweigh supply.

Bronte Manuel