Adelaide house prices have scaled new heights in the most recent quarter, with the median hitting $650,000 amid similar growth in regional South Australia.
The market is expected to cool in the coming months but on the first Saturday since Tuesday's interest rate rise house hunters are not holding their breath just yet.
According to the latest figures from SA's valuer-general, Adelaide's median price for the three months of the year was up by almost $50,000 on the previous quarter, and by $130,000 on the corresponding one last year.
In the same 12-month period, the median price in non-metropolitan areas areas increased by more than $40,000 to reach $325,000.
The median more than doubled in several Adelaide suburbs including Torrens Park and Port Noarlunga, while the figure for Norwood increased by more than $700,000 to $1.7 million.
"We've had a massive surge in price increases in the last year or so, and that is unsustainable."
Earlier this week, the Reserve Bank increased interest rates for the first time in more than 11 years.
All of Australia's biggest banks lifted mortgage rates accordingly, matching the Reserve Bank's 25-basis-point increase and prompting predictions of a more affordable market.
"I think it will slow down markedly. It has already done so in the eastern states, and South Australia, historically, does lag behind in these times," Mr Knight said.
For house hunters like Brooke McCabe, who today resumed the search for her first home, relief is long overdue.
"We've had a look at a couple — been really, really invested and emotionally attached to them — and the price guide's sort of within what we're looking for, and then we get to possibly an auction and it goes way above what we're looking for," she said.
"We're sort of already out of the race before it's even begun."
She said she was hoping for the impacts of the rate rise to become evident in "the next couple of months".
Adelaide sellers have enjoyed six consecutive quarters of median price growth.
For Annika Rogers and Jeremy Boyce, Tuesday's rate rise had little impact on today's auction of their home in Adelaide's north-west.
"We had a number of registered bidders, which was beyond our expectations as well so it was a good result," Ms Rogers said.
Mr Boyce said the home fetched $20,000 or $30,000 "above what we thought we might have got".
"There's still some nuggets of gold around," he said.
Suburbs of biggest growth |
Sales March quarter 2021 | Median price |
Sales March quarter 2022 |
Median price |
Median change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kensington Park |
8 |
$921,000 |
2 |
$2,750,000 |
198.59 per cent |
Mitcham |
9 |
$861,250 |
3 |
$2,290,000 |
165.89 per cent |
Torrens Park |
14 |
$910,500 |
5 |
$2,206,000 |
142.28 per cent |
Port Noarlunga |
9 |
$400,000 |
6 |
$930,000 |
132.50 per cent |
Clarendon |
2 |
$414,000 |
1 |
$930,000 |
124.64 per cent |
Croydon |
1 |
$615,000 |
3 |
$1,368,750 |
122.56 per cent |
Clarence Gardens |
5 |
$645,000 |
9 |
$1,250,000 |
93.80 per cent |
Manningham |
4 |
$485,000 |
11 |
$931,000 |
91.96 per cent |
