ARTICLE
The success of Adelaide is no longer a secret
Adelaide is fast becoming a global destination as this lifestyle city quietly grows in the shadows of Australia’s four largest cities; Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
Australia’s quiet achiever Adelaide is emerging from the shadows
As Australia’s fifth largest city, Adelaide is now approaching 1.5 million residents. Surrounded by beaches and rolling hills, the city is piquing interest both locally and globally. Home to Australia’s Space Agency, it has appealing lifestyle offerings, landscapes and natural amenity with its iconic beaches and wharves, along with decent affordability of housing and strong industry mix of employment. It seems this city is well positioned for a future of digital and intergalactic advancement, global exports (think education, agriculture and viticulture) and quality living. The latest data proves its growth in both population and popularity.
Global status and triple green lights of population growth
The city of Adelaide had been a quiet achiever globally until it reached 3rd on the World’s most liveable city ranking by EUI in 2021. A contributing factor to this could be because it evaded the harsh COVID era of restrictions and soared up the charts claiming global notoriety. In 2022 rankings it is still a Top 30 city.
Adelaide has since experienced the triple green light of population growth (natural increase, net overseas migration and net interstate migration). This hasn’t always been the case, as previously it was losing people to other states rather than gaining population through internal migration.
In the 12 months to September 2022, South Australia grew by over 25,000 people. South Australia grew at a population rate of 1.4%, slightly behind Qld (2.2%), WA (1.8%) and Vic (1.7%). It was growing at the same rate as ACT and faster than NSW (1.3%). Today, 1.8m people call South Australia home with 78% of the state’s residents calling the capital city of Adelaide home. This means that a fifth of South Australians live outside the lifestyle city in the surrounding regions.
Unique qualities of Adelaide
The distinctives of Adelaide as a city might be easy to miss, but they are led by affordability, shorter commutes and popular cultural experiences and brands. Leading the attractive qualities is affordability, with Adelaide receiving an income to house price ratio of 6 (determined by annual income to average house price), which is far better than Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney (which scored 8, 10 and 14 respectively). This means that home ownership isn’t a fading dream in Adelaide – check out this article for how major Australian cities score on the income to house price ratio.
Due to Adelaide having less suburban sprawl than other larger Australian cities, people also don’t have as long a commute time as other popular cities. This equates to time savings as well as health benefits with its culture of active transport and love of cycling (as it hosts the annual Tour Down Under).
Beyond the architectural beauty of Adelaide as “a city of churches”, there is also the world-renowned lifestyle areas of the Barossa Valley and the McLaren Vale wine regions, which are all within 90-minutes of Adelaide’s CBD. Iconic brands such as Penfolds Wines and R&M Williams (yes, I’m wearing my pair of boots as I type this article) exemplify the qualities of luxury with practicality that perfectly summarises the spirit of Adelaide.
The future of Adelaide
As news gets out about Adelaide emerging from behind Australia’s other mega cities, the growth of Adelaide is set to continue steadily and sustainably. It is predicted to grow by a further 200,000 people over the next decade. As the home of Australia’s Space Agency increases in global prominence with initiatives like Moon to Mars to take off as part of the 2028 Australian Civil Space Strategy, you’ll no doubt be hearing more about Adelaide, and so will the other 8 billion people across planet Earth. I’m sure you’ll also notice more landmark Adelaide brands such as R&M Williams and Penfolds Wines that demonstrate and exemplify the strength, quality and beauty of Adelaide as a world-leading lifestyle location.
