The fourth hearing of the Greens-led Senate inquiry into intergenerational housing inequity in Australia, today revealed Adelaide has one of the tightest and most unaffordable housing markets in the country.
Evidence to the committee today showed:
Adelaide is the fourth most expensive city in the world for housing affordability, and the second most expensive city nationally after Sydney.
Adelaide’s median house price has increased from $185,000 in 2002 to $950,000 in 2025 – a rise of more than 400% in 25 years.
SA’s most populated local government area, the City of Onkaparinga, has seen an 80% increase in house prices between 2019-2024 and a 77% increase in rents between 2019-2025.
A single person in Adelaide today needs to save for 13.4 years to get a 20% deposit together. In the 1990s, it took around 5 years.
Rents in SA have increased by 52% since COVID.
Around 36% of Commonwealth Rent Assistance recipients in SA spend more than 30% of their income on rent, which constitutes housing stress.
Adelaide’s rental vacancy rate has dropped to 0.7%, while the cost of renting has increased at an exponential rate of 4.9% year-on-year.
SA has sold off 20,000 public homes over the past two decades, while 13,687 people remain on public housing waiting lists.
SA needs to build 350 public homes a year just to match population growth, way short of meeting the growth in demand.
60% of people accessing homelessness services in SA are doing so because of the housing crisis, compared to 38% nationally.
Government spending on homelessness services in SA has dropped by $4.3 million to $91.5 million in 2024-25, while demand has increased.
More disabled people are accessing specialist homelessness services, with almost 76% of recent clients to SA’s Hutt Street Centre self-identifying as having a disability.
As stated by Greens spokesperson for finance, housing and homelessness and Senator for South Australia, Barbara Pocock:
“Today’s evidence is clear: Labor has failed South Australians on housing.
“Many South Australians have not only given up on owning a home, they’ve also given up on being able to afford a rental near where they work.
“We heard evidence from one witness, Elise, who has been on the public housing wait list for more than two decades. Elise’s rent is about to increase in July, which will mean she is paying around 60% of her income on rent. How does the Government expect people to live?
“In South Australia, we’re seeing a growing number of people in the ‘missing middle’ – who don’t qualify for public housing but who are struggling to afford housing in the private rental market.
“The housing system is failing low-income households, particularly those on Centrelink payments or casual wages.
“People aren’t able to transition out of crisis accommodation and homelessness because there is nowhere for them to go.
“We heard evidence from 13-year-old witness Sebastian, whose dream of owning a home one day feels impossible if house prices continue to rise as they currently are. He spoke of the despair and hopelessness among his peers.
“It’s a tragedy that in a wealthy country like ours, young people don’t believe they will ever be able to buy a house, they don’t believe they’ll ever have secure housing. For them, the great Australian dream is dead.
“Labor has a choice: it can continue to treat housing like a game of monopoly or it can start treating housing as a human right.
“We urgently need to dampen investor incentives, build more social and affordable housing directly, and adequately fund homelessness services.
“Let’s redirect the tax benefits for the 1% to build more public and community housing so young people have hope of a secure roof over their head and aren’t forced to sleep on the streets.”
