Nice to meet with you and your mother this evening, glad to be of assistance.

Adelaide Inner North
While the inner north suburbs of Adelaide are not quite as prestigious as the inner east or inner south, over the past 5-10 years it has become a very desirable place to live for both owner occupiers and tenants alike.

The vacancy rates match the national averages in this area with good results coming from the more traditional owner occupier filled areas. The main exception being North Adelaide which (combined with its Rent : OO ratio you’ll see shortly) has reached over supplied status.

As you can see this region has a very health owner occupied housing pool. This is great for the demographics and stability of the area, hence the capital growth prospects. This does mean poor yields though. Devon Park’s is outside of the acceptable norm, yet still has low vacancy rate so could be sustainable.
Typical rents in the area
I’ve graphed the typical rents in the area, but unlike previous write ups have separated houses and units but you’ll notice that there are no statistics available for units in a couple of the suburbs as these areas are made up of predominantly houses.

What are each of these suburbs like?
North Adelaide – One of Adelaide’s favourite spots for vibrant pubs, restaurants, cafes and shopping. Lots of gorgeous character period homes.
Medindie – Primo owner occupier residential area with an executive demographic. Very few tenants.
Prospect – Blue chip suburb that everyone seems to want to live in. Has turn of the century homes with leafy tree lined streets. Prospect Rd which runs up the middle is the main café strip of the region.
Nailsworth – Flew under the radar in Prospect’s shadow until recent times when its price tag caught up to that of Prospect.
Broadview – Previously a state housing area, but due to its proximity to the city and the removal of state housing, is now starting to lift as an area.
Sefton Park – Dotted with bungalow type properties, whose values haven’t caught up to neighbouring Prospect and Nailsworth yet.
Devon Park – Less desirable due to being adjacent the train line and light industrial area, but its proximity to the city will help hold its value.
Collinswood – A level down from neighbouring Medindie and Walkerville
Vale Park – A small, affordable suburb (relative to its neighbours), as mostly comprises houses from the 1950’s.
Walkerville – Large estate style homes with tennis courts out the back.
Dave’s Suburb Pick:
Sefton Park
Sefton Park is a bit of a sleeper suburb. It’s quite affordable and adjacent to suburbs that are much more expensive. Capital growth could be expected here.
It is next to 2 major shopping precincts and well known private schools.
As seen in the graphs above, its vacancy rate and owner occupied ratio are well within acceptable bounds for investing in. At time of writing, there are only 3 properties available for rent in the area which is a good demand signal.

A property in Prospect that we manage
Dave’s “what to avoid”
Apartments. As seen with the statistical numbers presented in North Adelaide, they create a supply problem for tenants in the area. Even more are being built in the region but I’d advise staying clear of them if you want to be able to lease them in a timely fashion.

Hiya,

Not sure about over there in Sydney as all areas are different, but its very common in SA for there to be a 1.1 week incl gst renewal fee. Are you bothered by the cost or just the label on it?

You should weigh up the overall cost by factoring in the management fee, monthly admin fee, advertising costs, routine inspection fee, letting fee, renewal fee, etc to see what the actual overall annual cost will be.

Beyond that you should look at which PM agency is actually best in your area. A difference of plus or minus a few bob in either direction wouldn’t really change this. Ie Circular Quay restaurants cost more than McDonalds but if it was all about cost then the former would have 0 customers right?

Definitely does.
For your future IPs, they’ll assess your wife as if she was having the whole debt.

What suburb / town are you looking at?

One thing to keep in mind is that if the units are all on 1 title, you may have to use commercial finance.

How do you plan on financing it? A lot of banks don’t like owner builders.

Yup, as Corey said, as long as its for a new property and will be a PPOR. Getting in touch with him is a very good idea.

Outer Southern Suburbs

This has been quite a popular spot for investors, particularly interstate ones as the area allows for good value investing. The area has a low entry point, offers good yield as well as opportunities to renovate or develop.

A typical house I did an interstate inspection on in Christies Beach which might become townhouses one day

As explained last week in SA – Salisbury LGA Summary, vacancy rate of suburbs and the rental vs owner occupied ratios are important metrics to look at so I’ve sought out the statistics and provided graphs again.

Aside from the obvious outlier above, the vacancy rates are quite healthy in this region are quite healthy and we’ve typically been able to rent houses quite quickly.

The rental population in this area is quite high in this area upon first glance – some might even say to alarming levels. However you have to learn how the numbers interrelate – if it were an issue, it would push vacancy rates up but they have maintained steady despite this.

The infrastructure in the area supports this. There is a satellite CBD at Noarlunga with one of the state’s biggest shopping centres, cinemas, tafe, hospital, and everything you’d need. There’s an express train (45 mins) to Adelaide CBD or a short drive to Lonsdale for the blue collar working folk.

Typical rents in the area

I’ve graphed the typical rents for houses in the area, separating out new from old as there is quite a bit of redevelopment in the area. Note that there’s going to be some variance on rents, depending on the style and condition of the house and what features it has. Like anywhere: allowing pets, having a secure spot for the car, providing heating and cooling and you’re golden.

Dave’s Suburb Pick:

Christies Beach

The gentrification going on in this area is visible on both a residential and commercial level. Old houses are being torn down and replaced with newer ones, or in some cases new multiples. This is increasing the quality of demographic in the area.

At the same time, the number of tattoo parlours and op shops that used to line the Beach Rd precinct are now dwindling and we’re seeing in a rise in wine bars, yoga studios and cafes.

Dave’s “what to avoid”

Small blocks like those under 500 sqm as this is a young family area.

The biggest inquiry source I get when leasing properties in the area is from families with pets and children and so your best bet is to cater for them by having usable, fully fenced backyards.

Families with pets or chidren can potentially provide you with a higher rent return or more stable tenants

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by  D.T..

Yes, I would.

Depreciation schedule for a pre-1988 place should be $330 which is tax deductible in itself, and surely the first year’s worth of depreciation would be into the 4 figures.

Terryw wrote:

D.T. do you find properties for buyers – like a buyers agent?

I’m a property manager, not a buyers agent, but have a colleague who is one for people who need to go down that route. On the other forums David Mews is a BA who services Adelaide and has helped our clients purchase. See http://www.adelaideba.com.au

I do inspections though – so if someone from regional area or interstate is interested in a place I’ll go along to the Open on their behalf then send them a written report about it, complete with photos, residex/rpdata info, etc