Anna Porter, a property market author, commentator and former valuer who works with first time and experienced investors on building high-performance portfolios, says she is directing clients towards the forgotten state of South Australia.
“For the past three years all eyes have been on Sydney and Melbourne as the markets that have been outperforming the national averages. Many suburbs across Melbourne metro and Sydney metro have been seeing double digit growth year on year since 2014. These areas have made investors and homeowners prosper while making first home buyers feel priced out,” Anna Porter says.
“Adelaide is about to pull focus based on all the major economic indicators we have researched.”
There are six major infrastructure projects coming to Adelaide in the coming years, with four of the most notable being the Submarines, the Frigate Fleet and the Corvettes, all of which are military boats that are set to be produced at least in part in Adelaide.
“This is a combined project value of $39billion and is set to create jobs directly related to the manufacture as well as through the supply chain. We are already meeting with people who are seeing a boost in their company’s workforce through related contracts in steel and other areas of manufacturing. Not all of this is held in Adelaide too, the supply chain goes well into surrounding states.”
“The other major project that has been in the works is the Royal Adelaide Hospital redevelopment. This is a $2.1billion building project, putting it up there as the most expensive building in the country.”
“These projects are earmarked to create nearly 4,000 jobs between now and 2020. Whilst Adelaide has experienced notable job and industry loss in the manufacturing sector in recent years, the net effect will be positive. Job creation at this level will fundamentally impact the property market in the area.”
Ms Porter says the far northern section of Adelaide, near Elizabeth, where manufacturing has closed down and infrastructure has been abandoned will likely underperform in comparison to inner city Adelaide.
“The inner metro areas, within 30 minutes of CBD, will benefit from a huge boost to job creation.”
She says South Australia is the next “state of infrastructure”.
Popular markets for interstate investors such as Christie’s Beach won’t necessarily perform as well, she says.
“The popular coastal and lifestyle markets won’t be reached meaningfully by the boost to employment. Locals however, are still focussed on these markets, potentially creating a two-tier marketplace not dissimilar to the relationship between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.”
