Invest
From resilience to strength: How returning to normality is driving Adelaide’s growth
Invest
From resilience to strength: How returning to normality is driving Adelaide’s growth
Adelaide’s success with preventing the spread of COVID-19 is seeing consumer confidence grow and a return to a pre-COVID lifestyle, which is having a strong impact on house prices, a researcher has revealed.
From resilience to strength: How returning to normality is driving Adelaide’s growth
Adelaide’s success with preventing the spread of COVID-19 is seeing consumer confidence grow and a return to a pre-COVID lifestyle, which is having a strong impact on house prices, a researcher has revealed.

In a conversation with nestegg, InvestorKit’s head of research, Arjun Paliwal, explained what happens to the property market when cities emerge from COVID-19.
“The property council in South Australia recently shared that up to two-thirds of workers are back in the CBD,” Mr Paliwal said.
“It suggests that while we will have more people working from home, it’s unlikely that our CBDs become ghost towns. Currently, Adelaide is a leading indicator of what is happening as we come to some sort of normality.”
Mr Paliwal said this is building on a trend that has been going for a few years, with the Adelaide market remaining resilient while Sydney and Melbourne suffered its pre-election corrections.

“Adelaide has been resilient. When you think of the downturns in Sydney and Melbourne between 2017 and 2019 with the ups and downs of a changing political environment and credit changes, we didn’t see Adelaide respond to the same level,” he explained.
The researcher pointed to the high proportion of owner-occupiers that are returning to the market, with many properties selling above their reserve.
“Now we are starting to move from resilience to strength,” Mr Paliwal said.
“That is clearly happening as the missing component in Australia’s property market [since COVID] has been sentiment.”
He noted that Adelaide has the traditional fundamentals that would see a housing market grow.
“If you think of Adelaide’s house market that has low supply, if you combine that with cheap money and low rates, as well as owner-occupier affordability, all of a sudden that missing component of sentiment is now starting to show in a positive way in Adelaide,” the researcher said.
He also pointed to success on the COVID front – growing property prices in regions that otherwise would have struggled.
“What has been very interesting is the region of Marion was expected to see some negative impacts,” Mr Paliwal said.
“If you look at the workforce breakdown, 11 per cent of workers in Marion are in the retail trade, 10 per cent of workers in education and training, as well as 8 per cent in accommodation and food services.
“One in three workers [was] in the three top impacted areas if you include the education sector with the university in Marion.
“So, this just shows despite facing headwinds, it has remained resilient despite the pandemic,” Mr Paliwal concluded.
About the author

About the author


Property
Twice the demand: the case study behind Melbourne’s first‑home buyer surge
Melbourne has quietly engineered one of Australia’s most consequential housing turnarounds, with first‑home buyer demand running at roughly double the national pace and four of the top five buyer ...Read more

Property
First‑home buyers now anchor Australia’s mortgage growth — but the risk maths is changing
Great Southern Bank’s revelation that nearly one in three of its new mortgages went to first‑home buyers is not an outlier. It is the leading edge of a broader market realignment powered by government ...Read more

Property
Home guarantee scheme shake-up challenges Australia’s housing market players
From 1 October 2025, the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) materially widens what first-home buyers can purchase and where. By sharply lifting price caps and relaxing eligibility settings, the ...Read more

Property
GSB’s first‑home buyer play: turning policy tailwinds into market share
Great Southern Bank’s latest results show that nearly one in three of its new mortgages now go to first‑home buyers—evidence of a fast‑moving market reshaped by government guarantees, easing rates and ...Read more

Property
Why investors are fleeing and renters are scrambling in Australia's housing maze
Australia’s rental market is tightening even as individual landlords sell down. New data points to a multi‑year investor retreat tied to higher holding costs and regulatory uncertainty, while prices ...Read more

Property
Australia's 5% deposit guarantee: Unlocking gains while balancing risks in the market share race
Can a bigger government guarantee fix housing access without fuelling prices? Australia is about to find out. The Albanese government’s expanded 5% deposit pathway aims to help 70,000 buyers, remove ...Read more

Property
Australia's bold move the 5% deposit scheme shaking up the housing market
Can a government guarantee replace lenders mortgage insurance without inflating prices or risk? Canberra’s accelerated 5% deposit scheme is a bold demand-side nudge in a supply‑constrained marketRead more

Property
When rates drop but stress sticks: exploring Australia's mortgage arrears dilemma
Headline numbers suggest arrears ease as rates come down. The reality in Australia is messier: broad measures dipped into mid‑2025, yet severe delinquencies and non‑bank portfolios remain under ...Read more

Property
Twice the demand: the case study behind Melbourne’s first‑home buyer surge
Melbourne has quietly engineered one of Australia’s most consequential housing turnarounds, with first‑home buyer demand running at roughly double the national pace and four of the top five buyer ...Read more

Property
First‑home buyers now anchor Australia’s mortgage growth — but the risk maths is changing
Great Southern Bank’s revelation that nearly one in three of its new mortgages went to first‑home buyers is not an outlier. It is the leading edge of a broader market realignment powered by government ...Read more

Property
Home guarantee scheme shake-up challenges Australia’s housing market players
From 1 October 2025, the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) materially widens what first-home buyers can purchase and where. By sharply lifting price caps and relaxing eligibility settings, the ...Read more

Property
GSB’s first‑home buyer play: turning policy tailwinds into market share
Great Southern Bank’s latest results show that nearly one in three of its new mortgages now go to first‑home buyers—evidence of a fast‑moving market reshaped by government guarantees, easing rates and ...Read more

Property
Why investors are fleeing and renters are scrambling in Australia's housing maze
Australia’s rental market is tightening even as individual landlords sell down. New data points to a multi‑year investor retreat tied to higher holding costs and regulatory uncertainty, while prices ...Read more

Property
Australia's 5% deposit guarantee: Unlocking gains while balancing risks in the market share race
Can a bigger government guarantee fix housing access without fuelling prices? Australia is about to find out. The Albanese government’s expanded 5% deposit pathway aims to help 70,000 buyers, remove ...Read more

Property
Australia's bold move the 5% deposit scheme shaking up the housing market
Can a government guarantee replace lenders mortgage insurance without inflating prices or risk? Canberra’s accelerated 5% deposit scheme is a bold demand-side nudge in a supply‑constrained marketRead more

Property
When rates drop but stress sticks: exploring Australia's mortgage arrears dilemma
Headline numbers suggest arrears ease as rates come down. The reality in Australia is messier: broad measures dipped into mid‑2025, yet severe delinquencies and non‑bank portfolios remain under ...Read more