Salisbury SA LGA Summary

There are a number of threads which outline the SA and Adelaide suburbs – but as some of these have years of history the data and summaries are quite disjointed, making it difficult for some people to get a grasp of suburbs and comparisons.

Over the coming weeks @d.T. (David Traeger from http://www.dtproperty.com.au) and I will provide an overview of a few of the most popular areas we see investors active and our thoughts on what they have going for them and what to avoid.

Area Overview

The Salisbury Local Government Area has been an area of interest for investors for quite some time, but increasingly is getting seen as an area with suburbs which have potential for buy and hold, development and renovations strategies.
The second largest council in South Australia by population, it has over 130,000 residents and growing with active urban renewal and infill development. The area has 32 suburbs within it’s boundaries, for the purpose of this overview we’ve shortlisted it to what we see as the Top 10 active suburbs being targeted by investors.

Median prices

Data:
Salisbury North $237,000
Salisbury East $304,500
Salisbury $275,500
Pooraka $348,500
Paralowie $287,500
Salisbury Downs $308,000
Ingle Farm $317,000
Brahma Lodge $255,500
Para Hills $306,000
Parafield Gardens $307,000
*Median prices as per Residex. note: median prices in majority owner occupier areas can be misleading, as there is a disparity in owner occupied vs investor stock. Generally I find purchases funded for clients to be at or well below these figures, dependent on suburb.

Industrial/retail vs resi sections
As the Salisbury LGA is a well established council area which is large in terms of population and geography there is a broad spread of property types, including large industrial and retail shopping. The main shopping and transportation hub is central in Salisbury 5108, with satellite shopping hubs in every other suburb. There is also a significant sized shopping hub in Ingle Farm on the corner of Walkleys and Montague Roads.
Small to large scale industrial is present within the LGA, located primarily in Salisbury North, Salisbury, sections of Salisbury South and Para Hills. There are localised sections of industrial sites through the various suburbs such as Brahma Lodge and Salisbury, but these are easy to avoid.

Development Potential

Developing in the Salisbury Council is providing the majority of new housing for the expanding population base, as there is limited greenfield and brownfield sites for suburb expansion. The council has a considerably proactive development policy which is encouraging quality development, especially in the area of subdivisions and townhouses. This is not at the expense of amenity, so development must comply to increase the quality of the area, however with the large amount of older properties in the area on larger blocks, it’s possible to build quality developments without diminishing the streetscape or living standard.
As with the case of most of South Australia, development charges are minimal so a Torrens title division can be completed for $20-22,000, and titles PRIOR to construction – allowing any new found equity to be leveraged for construction costs.
http://dpti.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/174030/Salisbury_Council_Development_Plan.pdf

A common style of new build in the area – subdivided land

Townhouses in the area

Investment in the LGA

The Salisbury LGA has received significant investment attention from Corporate, local, State and Federal government. Some of the projects include:
*State of the art Technology Park which contains over 85 firms including global players such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and SAAB
*$350-500m expansion of the RAAF Base Edinburgh
*$220m entertainment and shopping hub
*Salisbury Town Centre renewal plan http://www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/Build/Developments/Major_Projects

Corey’s Suburb Pick

Salisbury North
The cheapest suburb by median, whilst holding comparable rents with adjacent areas, it represents strong yields whilst tracking similar to other areas in terms of growth. Traditionally seen as the ‘worst’ part of the Salisbury area due to it’s majority % of housing trust, the government housing is largely now in private hands. Government land in the suburb including disused parks and schools are now being sold for house and land packages, rapidly changing the suburb demographic and streetscape.

Investment strategies which might suit the area: renovations, future subdivision, cash flow buy and hold

Corey’s “what to avoid”

Avoid small houses. There is a wide variety of house styles in the Salisbury LGA, from ex housing trust, 70’s-90’s volume builder to modern new builds. A common misconception is to assume that all three bedroom, 1 bathrooms will value similary – when this is not the case. Valuers use the internal living square metres as one of their primary valuation metrics, meaning that properties of a similar layout (number of bedrooms, bathrooms, car parking) can be valued extremely differently based on the size of the actual structure.
Sub 100sqm 3 bedroom homes are the smallest in the area, with the majority being 105-130sqm in size. Stick to the norm at a minimum to ensure you do not limit your future valuation and rental potential.

• This topic was modified 8 years ago by  Corey Batt.