Where you can buy a unit for a third of the price of a house

Looking to buy a unit or apartment?

Here’s where you should be buying, according to new research by market analyst SuburbData.

According to its report, buyers are getting the lifestyle for less in some of our most popular suburbs by opting for a unit or apartment over a house.

And the biggest savings can be made in North Adelaide, where the typical unit or apartment costs two-thirds less than that of houses.

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Here, the typical unit or apartment will set you back just $484,000, while the median house value is $1.464m.

It’s a similar situation in Glenside, on Adelaide’s eastern fringe, where units and apartments, at $566,000, are just 34.8 per cent of the price of the average house at $1.626m.

In fact, homebuyers can get the lifestyle they want for less than half the price they would be paying to enjoy it from a house in five more suburbs – the city fringe suburb of Parkside, the coastal hotspots Somerton Park and Glenelg North, and the cafe districts of Unley and Norwood.

Smallacombe Mitcham and Burnside selling agent Robyn Coles has just placed a one-bedroom apartment at 114 Strangways Tce under contract and said North Adelaide units and apartments were particularly sought after.

Smallacombe’s Robyn Coles outside the North Adelaide apartment she has just placed under contract. Picture: RoyVPhotography

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“It’s extremely competitive because you’re not only buying a property, but a lifestyle and proximity to the city,” she said.

“When you look at what North Adelaide offers, it’s super affordable.

“You can start out in a unit here, get fantastic capital growth and then when you can afford to move into a house make the move, or leverage off it and retain it and enjoy great rental yields.

“We’ve always got people wanting to move into North Adelaide apartments and there’s good diversity in them as well, from new to older.”

Ms Coles said North Adelaide apartments attract a range of buyers, from investors, downsizers, first-home buyers, interstaters and parents looking to get their children out of boarding accommodation and into their own place.

“From an investment point of view you can’t go too far wrong,” she said.

SuburbData analyst Jeremy Sheppard said the gaps between unit and house prices were at record highs in some areas, suggesting apartment buyers could get more value than usual.

He also said unit prices tended to stay lower than house prices in nearly every area over the long term, but if the gap between them was significant, and many buyers started to notice they could get better value with units, the apartment prices would quickly catch up.

Jeremy Sheppard of SuburbData. Supplied

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But Mr Sheppard also cautioned buyers to be highly selective in the types of units they targeted.

“One of the problems with units is that oversupply can be a real killer of the long-term value,” he said.

“It’s best to try to avoid units in high-rise buildings and rather focus on boutique blocks where there are only a few apartments there.

“A good sign is if there’s no lift. It means there will be less apartments jammed into the same building and the strata fees are often lower.”

Suburbs with the greatest price disparity between houses and units/apartments

Source: SuburbData