Househunters used to turn to regional areas for cheap properties but that’s not necessarily the case anymore.
One small coastal town has joined SA’s million-dollar club and several others are hot on its tail following insane price growth over the past few years.
Carrickalinga on the Fleurieu Peninsula is the state’s only regional suburb or town to have a seven-figure house price at $1.405m, according to latest PropTrack figures.
The data shows prices have climbed 104.4 per cent in the past year and 195.8 per cent over the past five years – its median house price was just $475,000 in 2020.
Meanwhile, Port Elliott was trailing close behind with a $996,250 median house price, followed by Middleton ($930,000) Hindmarsh Island ($930,000) and Wasleys ($900,000).
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The Carrickalinga property at 95 Gold Coast Drive sold for more than $4m earlier in the year.
The sale has set the bar for the coastal town.
OC agent John Lewis said growing demand for properties in the tightly-held town of Carrickalinga was part of the reason prices were rising, but one sale raised the bar for the area.
He said the four-bedroom waterfront home at 95 Gold Coast Drive that he sold in April set the benchmark after it sold for $4.1m – more than $1.3m above its reserve price.
Several homes have sold for million-dollar prices since then, with a couple even above the $2m mark.
“That auction really changed the landscape,” he said.
“One good sale leads to another, and I think the people of Adelaide have always valued Carrickalinga as probably the number one holiday home destination if you can get into it.
“The reason the prices are growing still is the properties are just so tightly held.”
PropTrack data shows houses in Carrickalinga have an average hold period of 14.5 years.
Mr Lewis said the Covid-19 pandemic made the area particularly appealing to househunters and interest in it has only increased since.
“When Covid hit, it was a great location for people who had a beach house to get out of the chaos in the city,” he said.
“They were under valued up until Covid, by a long way.”
While some lived there, Mr Lewis said it was an ideal holiday home hotspot because it wasn’t too far from Adelaide.
“Because Carrickalinga doesn’t have any shops, it’s just this little holiday home community,” he said.
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The Carrickalinga property at 81 Gold Coast Drive sold in March for $3.41m.
Several properties in the area have sold for more than $1m in recent months.
“North Bay in particular is this beautiful beach and Gold Coast Drive is the pinnacle of beach house living in SA.”
OC agent and Fleurieu Peninsula specialist Kathleen Fry said recently that Covid had put places like Victor Harbor, Port Elliot, Middleton and Goolwa on the map.
“People who were in lockdown in other states were on the internet looking at houses all the time so we sold so many properties back then to people from interstate, particular Victorians,” she said.
“Covid changed everything – not only did the market go up by 50 per cent, but since then the people who wouldn’t normally buy a property on the south coast because it was too far from work, now they are.”
Port Elliot and Hindmarsh Island both had median house prices below $500,000 just five years ago, while Middleton’s was just above at $520,000.
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