Suburb overview
Glenelg East is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,855, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 9 km from the Adelaide CBD, Glenelg East is a middle ring area in South Australia. The median household income is $87,412 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5045
Postcode for Glenelg East, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
3,855
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$500/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
9 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Sale prices & yield
Median house price
$1,827,000
Median house sale price — as at Q1 2026, Valuer-General (SA) (CC BY 4.0). Figure covers suburb (metro Adelaide).
Indicative gross yield
1.4%
Estimated as current median rent × 52 ÷ current median house price. A guide only — not a guaranteed return; excludes costs, vacancy and buying expenses.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,950/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
44% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Glenelg East
- Middle-ring location about 9 km from Adelaide — balance of commute and affordability.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Glenelg East suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Short distance to the CBD makes commuting straightforward.
- Established middle-ring position between the CBD and the urban fringe.
Cons
- Median mortgage sits above the South Australia state median — entry costs are stretched.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
3,855 residents places Glenelg East squarely in the middle of the South Australia suburb size distribution (state median 3,699), with market depth comparable to most SA localities. Households here earn $87,412/year on average — 8% above the SA suburb median of $80,964 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. Median rent of $500/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,167/month — about 111% of the $1,950/month median mortgage repayment recorded at the 2021 Census. On those figures rental income covers most or all of the recorded repayment, but repayments on new loans have risen with interest rates since 2021, so re-run the coverage at today's rates before treating this as a cash-flow suburb. At 9 km from the Adelaide CBD, Glenelg East sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 44% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 73% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
Investment tip
This suburb suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 19% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Glenelg East vs South Australia median
How Glenelg East stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Glenelg East sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Glenelg East | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,855 | 3,699 | +4% |
| Median household income | $87,412/yr | $80,964/yr | +8% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $325 | $320 | +2% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,950 | $1,616 | +21% |
| Distance to CBD | 9 km | 13 km | -31% |
| Separate houses | 44% | 73% | -29pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Glenelg East — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,855 residents — 104% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $87,412/year (+8% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $325/week rent (≈ $1,408/month) covered ~72% of the $1,950/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 9 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 44% separate houses — mixed market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$195/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,950/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 19% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Glenelg East's 3,855-person market and $87,412 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $325/week covered 72% of a $1,950/month mortgage, a $542/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
Only 44% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 73% SA median) — this is a unit and townhouse market, where cosmetic flips struggle against body-corporate restrictions, thinner after-reno uplift and competing new supply.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,950/month median mortgage in Glenelg East means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $195/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,855 residents, Glenelg East has a thinner pool of buyers and tenants than larger suburbs. Expect longer days-on-market on resale and budget for potential vacancy gaps between tenancies.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Glenelg East regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Glenelg East with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
Run the numbers on a Glenelg East property
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Start your journey near Glenelg East →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Glenelg East are modest for 2026 — incomes 8% above the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 3,855 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~72% of the typical mortgage ($1,408/month rent vs $1,950/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Glenelg East is balanced heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the South Australia median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Glenelg East a good suburb for investment?
Whether Glenelg East suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,855, a median household income of $87,412/year and median weekly rent of $325. Weigh those against your goal — cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — each of which we break down with suburb-specific ABS numbers elsewhere on this page.
What drives property demand in Glenelg East?
The main demand drivers in Glenelg East are proximity to Adelaide (9 km), an above-state-median household income of $87,412/year, a dwelling mix that is 44% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Glenelg East?
Glenelg East has a usual resident population of approximately 3,855, compared with a South Australia suburb median of 3,699 — placing it in the upper half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
How far is Glenelg East from the Adelaide CBD?
Glenelg East sits 9 km straight-line from the Adelaide CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Adelaide employment nodes.
What is the median rent in Glenelg East?
The median weekly rent in Glenelg East is $500 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $26,000/year in gross rental income. Confirm against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
What is the typical mortgage repayment in Glenelg East?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Glenelg East is $1,950, or approximately $23,400/year (vs $1,616/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
Is Glenelg East cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $325 works out to $1,408/month, covering 72% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,950/month. That leaves a $542/month shortfall (around $6,504/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
What are the main risks of investing in Glenelg East?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,855 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,950 median mortgage, the broader South Australia market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
How we built this Glenelg East profile
The population figure on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census. The postcode comes from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. The dwelling mix is from the ABS 2021 Census. The median household income is the ABS 2021 Census median weekly household income, annualised. Distance to the CBD is calculated from the suburb's ABS centroid. The Census median rent and mortgage figures are 2021 figures and are labelled as such wherever they appear — they are five years old and have moved substantially since. The current median weekly rent in Key indicators is a genuine recent figure from Consumer & Business Services (SA) (Jan–Mar 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. The median sale price shown comes from Valuer-General (SA) (Q1 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. We do not publish an investment score or school/park counts for this suburb. See our methodology and data sources for exactly what's measured and what's estimated.