A combination of low Covid rates and lifestyle changes are putting more attention on the South Australian capital
5 min
Sandstone villas and opulent mansions in South Australia’s premier inner-city suburbs have become hot property for Adelaide house hunters looking for lifestyle as well as economic security.
While there’s been plenty of activity and attention placed on rural living and lifestyle areas, Adelaide’s inner-city listings too, particularly in blue chip suburbs such as Toorak Gardens and North Adelaide, have also been snapped up for record prices in the past few months.
Several driving factors have helped pique interest and confidence, not least the city’s handling of the pandemic—with less than 600 cases in total and four deaths.
As of December, its unemployment rate of 6.4% was no longer the highest in the country and its relatively affordable median house price of $509,978 and Australia’s historically low interest rates has contributed to its appeal.
Housing is half the price of Sydney, where median house prices have passed $1 million, and more than 60% cheaper than Melbourne’s median house price of $821,904.
Fox Real Estate principal Andrew Fox said there was uncertainty in the market around March and April but confidence returned quickly and activity and prices “went from strength to strength.”
“We were very fortunate in 2020,” he said. “Many generational top-end properties changed hands for excellent prices while low interest rates and low stock levels fueled the market.”
Sotheby’s South Australia director Grant Giordano confirmed that “a lot has been happening in terms of luxury sales” around Adelaide and said it still offers great relative value compared to other cities.
“These prestige properties are incredibly attractive, I always talk about the relative value of Adelaide, when you’re buying one of these properties, you’re buying tomorrow’s value today,” he said.
“It’s a city that goes through a cyclical cycle, once one big sale occurs, they all go and reset the market’s expectations.”
He said South Australians have adjusted their lifestyle habits as a result of the pandemic.
“People have more disposable income and are limiting discretionary buys and instead investing in their day-to-day lifestyle because they’re stuck at home,” he said.
“Many buyers are thinking ‘If I’m stuck at home might as well enjoy the space which I’m currently in’,” he said.
Williams Luxury managing director Stephanie Williams said 2020 brought about a distinct shift among Adelaide’s more affluent buyers, who sought larger properties that are better suited to the current “Covid lifestyle,” that include home offices, gyms, theatre rooms and outdoor areas.
“As we are all spending more time at home our needs have broadened somewhat to require these extra living environments and our high profile clients and professionals are now working from home more than ever before,” Ms Williams said.
“We also have a strong level of international relocations and ex-pats returning to Adelaide—as it offers excellent lifestyle options with very low levels of congestion,” she said. “Extremely low-interest rates, improved lending conditions from the banks, government stimulus and an absolute lack of supply in both sales and rental properties are also key fundamentals in driving the current market.”
“It’s very close to the perfect storm for vendors right now, as everyone wants to buy and only a very low number of people actually want to sell.”
Prestige Properties
Reputable and refined, North Adelaide is known for its stunning mansions and tall terraces on leafy lined streets, where a statue of naval officer and the state’s first surveyor-general Colonel William Light stands atop Montefiore Hill, overlooking the city he planned.
North Adelaide’s charismatic old homes and well-to-do residents have long defined the suburb’s distinct social, cultural and geographic differences.
All but one of Adelaide’s 10 most expensive homes were built in the 1800s and they remain highly sought after as proven in late 2020 when the historic North Adelaide mansion at Molesworth Street went under contract within three days of hitting the market.
Sold through Sotheby’s South Australia, the $4.5 million sale price made it one of North Adelaide’s most expensive transactions on record.
Neighbourhood amenities such as grand old pubs, modern hip cafes, gourmet supermarkets and a diverse range of restaurants contribute greatly to the village atmosphere, while the impressive and revamped Adelaide Oval sporting ground lies between the suburb and the central business district.
A walk along the River Torrens leads to the Adelaide Zoo, the city’s aquatic centre, and the education facilities, such as North Adelaide Primary, are not only among the state’s oldest but with Adelaide High School, among the top performers too.
The rich selection of amenities contributes significantly to the appeal, Mr Giordano said, with buyers eager to get into the area.
“Very rarely on the city fringe do you have such green and private living so conveniently laid out. When you’re talking about the Adelaide Hills or beach lifestyle, they’re lifestyle choices at the expense of convenience,” he said. “In North Adelaide, you make no compromise. It’s the closest suburb to the city and it has some of the grandest and most historically resonant properties in Adelaide.”
The exclusive location and quality of housing are what attracts the suburb’s two main demographics, Ms Williams said, with families attracted to the lifestyle and close proximity to elite schools while professional couples appreciate the cosmopolitan lifestyle, golf courses, parklands and close proximity to the Adelaide Oval.
Outlook 2021
Buyer interest in Adelaide is widespread. The number of eyeballs per online listing city-wide increased dramatically between 2019 and 2020, and according to CoreLogic’s head of research Tim Lawless, the city received minimal disruption during the pandemic.
“Adelaide housing values reached a new record high in November after recording five consecutive months of growth,” Mr Lawless said in his review of the 2020 market.
“Adelaide’s housing market has seen minimal disruption through the Covid period so far, only recording one month where values dipped lower—a drop of only 0.2% in June.”
Figures released by realestate.com.au also show suburbs such as North Adelaide are among the most sought-after by online house hunters, recording a 92% increase in views per listing in 2020 compared to 2019.
One of 2020’s hottest listings was an 1878-built sandstone villa on Mills Terrace, North Adelaide, which attracted almost 18,000 views in the leadup to its Dec. 20 auction through Williams Luxury.
Six registered bidders took part in the auction of 52 Mills Terrace, North Adelaide, which sold for $3.3million on December 20.
Williams Luxury
The grand and imposing four-bedroom home occupying a 1200 square metre landscaped block on one of North Adelaide’s most prestigious streets sold at auction for $3.3million and attracted six registered local and interstate-based bidders.
“North Adelaide generally has a very low level of luxury homes available to the market and the most prestigious properties can be tightly held by the same family for generations,” Ms Williams said.
“The market conditions at the end of 2020 were very unusual for the area with several luxury homes coming onto the market around the same time,” she said. “All of these properties have now sold and we are back to experiencing traditional very low levels of new properties coming onto the market.“
CoreLogic figures for North Adelaide show the suburb’s median house price first broke the $1 million barrier in October 2020, while SQM Research listing data highlights the shortage of property available for sale, with 28 houses available in January, the lowest since June 2020.
Mr Fox remains confident about Adelaide’s outlook, particularly given its reputation as a “safe haven” when it comes to health and the economy, two contributing factors that had lured many expats back from overseas as well as new residents from interstate.
“Our inner-city, hills, regional and beachside locations have seen significant growth and are always sought-after, but we have seen demand and growth pretty much across the board,” he said.
“The prestige market is extremely strong and it’s probably the most opportune time to sell in years. Stock levels are relatively low and it’s not unusual to receive a dozen or so offers on a prestige property, and we can’t see it slowing down this year,” he added.
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Nearly half of American adults under 30, pinched by the high cost of housing, are living with a parent. It can be an adjustment for both.
5 min
Samantha Stobo was fresh off a breakup and unable to afford her Manhattan two-bedroom alone. So the 29-year-old decided to move in with her mom in Miami until she could get back on her feet. She told herself it would only take a few months.
Now 33-years old, Stobo has no plans to move out.
“I thought it was going to be temporary,” Stobo said. “But it’s been three years now, and I love it.”
Living at home as a 20-something was once viewed as a failure to launch and even a source of embarrassment in a culture that places a premium on independence. That is no longer the case. Living at home is now often viewed as a sign of financial prudence, and for some, a long-term prospect.
Chronically high living costs are helping reshape the milestones of early adulthood in America. The national median home price hovers above $400,000. Rents are at record highs in cities across the U.S., and many recent college graduates are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.
Even though some of these young adults pay their folks rent, it tends to be well below the cost of living on their own.
“Everything is just out of reach,” said 28-year-old Megan Talley, who lives at home with her mom in the Atlanta suburbs. If a young person wants to live alone, “you could do it, but you would be dead broke at the end of the month.”
Last year, 49% of adults under age 30 said they lived with a parent, up 12 percentage points from 2019, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking. Nearly a third of those adults were 25 or older.
Some economists put that figure lower and note that the Fed study doesn’t distinguish between children living in their parents’ homes versus parents living in their children’s homes.
Still, young people say that living at home in 2026 doesn’t carry the stigma it once did because of how unaffordable life has become. About 55% of young adults who moved back home said it was out of financial necessity, according to a spring survey by financial services firm Thrivent.
So many parents and adult children are living together now that it is beginning to transform aspects of American society—from when members of the younger generation start a family to the way builders think about designing homes.
Far from hiding it, some now broadcast their lives as “stay-at-home daughters” or “stay-at-home sons” on social media. Stobo says posting about her mother-daughter living situation on TikTok has earned her a friendly comment section filled with others in the same position—and makes her some money.
“No one ever judges me,” she said. “The conversation tends to be more like, ‘That’s awesome, and I bet you’re saving money.’”
Casey Wright, 28-years-old, moved back home to Oxford, Mich., three years ago after being laid off from two consecutive jobs. She redecorated her childhood bedroom to match her adult aesthetic, tearing down her Twilight posters and choir awards and hanging a floral tapestry and framed landscapes.
She and her parents have come to an agreement on living together as adults. She no longer has a curfew, for instance. But before she goes out, Wright’s parents require her to tell them where she’s going and what time she expects to be back.
The Wrights have dinner together every night and go golfing or walking together a few times a month. Casey still hangs out in her parents’ room occasionally to talk about movies with her dad or to gossip with her mom.
She just doesn’t spend time with her parents quite as often as she did when she was a child and is more often in her room playing videogames or reading. “It’s not as much as when I was younger, because I feel like there’s almost that separation that’s needed as an adult,” she said. “You’re not just living in your childhood home as a child.”
Multigenerational living has long been more of a norm among Hispanic, Asian and Black households, along with immigrant families.
During the pandemic, a broader swath of 20-somethings returned home. It was supposed to be short-term; then came record inflation and double-digit rent increases.
By July 2020, 52% of young Americans age 18 to 29 lived with at least one parent, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data. It was the first time a majority of young adults in the country had lived with parents since the Great Depression. That share has likely dropped since then, but for some people the arrangements have stuck.
Living with parents became a “dominant living arrangement in America for people in this age group,” said Laurence Steinberg, a Temple University psychology professor who recently wrote the book “You and Your Adult Child.”
States such as California and New York have loosened regulations around building accessory dwelling units in recent years. Once nicknamed “granny flats,” ADUs are now used to house budget-squeezed adult children.
Villa Homes, a California home builder, is used to this kind of customer. The firm is seeing more families add detached ADUs for their grown children or other relatives, to live in for a few years and save money for a starter home.
Carmen Johnson, 33, has loved living with her parents in the Detroit metro area since the start of Covid. She doesn’t pay rent, splits grocery bills with her family and invests those savings in her music career and toward a future home. It beats barely making ends meet in her old Los Angeles apartment.
“Covid flipped the script,” Johnson said. “It’s a blessing in disguise.”
She isn’t ashamed of living at home, and doesn’t judge other people for it either. But she wouldn’t necessarily reveal it to a first date unless asked directly.
Bringing home a date also requires a bit of mental calculus.
“It’s like, ‘OK, is my dad going to be in the living room watching TV?’” Johnson said.
Sometimes, that kind of strategizing goes both ways. Jessica Suzio, a 52-year old widow in Michigan, has tried to get back into the dating scene in recent years. But with her two sons living at home, both in their mid-20s, bringing back a new boyfriend is uncomfortable for all involved, she said.
Suzio is happy to have her sons at home, and they help with household expenses by paying her some rent.
“When they were younger, I was daydreaming about the days that I would be an empty-nester,” she said. “But I’ve grown to really appreciate them sticking around.”
Kevin Grolig, a 59-year-old real-estate agent in the D.C. metro area, started noticing that his clients were delaying downsizing their homes because their adult children were still living there. So he came up with a “four-step plan” to get grown children out of the house. The most important: agree on a move-out timeline before the child even steps back in the door.
Casey Wright in Michigan doesn’t pay rent, but her father, Craig, said she has been a big help around the house. She does much of the grocery shopping, helps with the cooking and has learned to use the riding lawn mower, manicuring the yard when Craig is busy.
About five times a day, she says, her mom knocks on her door, often to ask for help with technology.
“If I had the ability to, I would move out tomorrow,” Wright said. Nothing against her parents, “I would just love to have the freedom to do what they were doing at my age.”
Wright’s father wishes the same for his daughter. He and his wife expected to have an empty nest by now.
But he realizes that the housing market is different today than when he was in his 30s in the 1980s and bought a three-bedroom home for $70,000, less than a fifth of today’s median home price. He estimates his salary back then was about $35,000.
Some of Craig’s friends also have adult children living at home. “It’s kind of normal,” he said.
