Adelaide house prices remain "strong" despite repeated interest rate hikes and the end of the COVID-19 real estate boom that resulted in major market dips in Melbourne and Sydney, experts say.
Eclipse Real Estate director Michael Virscariello said the Adelaide market "boomed" during the pandemic, but had slowed over the last six months with repeated Reserve Bank rate rises.
"The last few months, we have seen lower buyer activity but still strong prices," he said.
"With the last interest rate rise not being as significant as experts had first thought, we had seen an uptake in buyer inquiries.
"Adelaide has always done it's own thing and been steady as she goes, while Melbourne and Sydney have those fluctuations.
"It almost appears like we've missed the huge drop that Sydney and Melbourne have seen."
According to the latest CoreLogic data, property prices in Adelaide dropped 0.2 per cent in September, but were up 0.1 per cent over the past three months.
In contrast, the data showed Sydney sales prices for the past quarter dropped by 6.1 per cent, and plunged 3.7 per cent in Melbourne.
Vendor Maria Maieli was concerned the recent rate hikes would turn prospective buyers off her investment property in Salisbury East.
"There was so many in a row — I thought we wouldn't get what we wanted at all," she said.
But she said she got "more than I expected" at auction on Saturday, selling her three bedroom home for $517,500, which was more than $52,000 above reserve.
"There was a lot of interest, so as time went on, I got a little bit more confident that interest rates weren't going to affect it at all," she said.
Belle Property real estate agent Kosta Zaharogiannis sold the Salisbury East home, and said there was no hesitation for buyers wanting a property at that price point.
"A lot of buyers now have adjusted their searching criteria ... so before they were looking at price points between $500,000 to $550,000. Now they might be looking $450,000 to $500,000," he said.
"But the market still has been quite strong."
He said it was "fantastic" that the Adelaide property market was yet to see any major decline, like in Melbourne and Sydney.
Mr Virscariello said Adelaide was experiencing the lowest rental vacancy in "quite some time" but more properties were becoming available as Christmas approached.
According to Domain's September Rental Report, Adelaide rentals have hit a record high, jumping more than 11 per cent in the past 12 months.
Data shows apartment rentals increased by 5.3 per cent in the last three months to a new record high of $400 per week.
